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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Making the Most 
OF Life 



The Fourth Series of 

Sermons which have Appeared in the 

New York Sunday Herald 



BY 

GEORGE H. HEPWORTH, D.D. 

Author of" Herald Sermons," ** Hiram Golf's Religion," etc. 



» » J J » i, 
' » , > * I 

» 1 3 J a , » 



NEW YORK 

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 

31 West Twenty-Third Street 
1904 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Tw« C»pl«8 Received 

MAR I 1904 

3 Copyright Ekntry 
CLAS« ft^ XXa No, 

•^ copy-'b 



Copyright 
E. P. BUTTON & CO. 

1904 



Published, February, 1904 



• e • « 



By the courtesy of Mr, James Gordon Bennett, 
Mrs. Hepworth presents the fourth volume in the 
series of * * Herald Sermons ' ' by the late Dr. George 
H. Hepworth. 



Ill 



CONTENTS 

Making The Most of Lifb i 

Easter Morning 7 

One Day at a Time 12 

The Batti^e oe Life 17 

What Is Yoxm Purpose ? 23 

The PossibIvE Man 28 

S1MP1.E Goodness . . 32 

Things Not Worth Whii^e 37 

Two Bodies .42 

NoBivE Living 47 

A Larger Faith 53 

Strong in the Lord 58 

A SiMPi<E Faith 63 

God Our Strength 67 

The Beauty of the Heart 71 

The Brevity of Life 76 

Our Person ai. Possessions 82 

Sorrows and Troubi^es 87 

Judge Kindi^y 92 

V 



VI CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Trub and the Right 97 

Christmas Day loi 

A New Year 106 

God's Kingdom .112 

A lyiviNG Faith . , 117 

PEACE IN THE Soui. 122 

High Thinking, High Living 128 

The Ideai, Man . . . . . . . . 133 

The Lord W11.1, Care eor You 137 

More Light . .142 

Making the Best of Ai,i, Things . . . .147 

Heai,th and Strength 152 

Thou Art There 156 

To The Downhearted 161 

WE BE1.0NG TO Two W0RI.DS . . . . .167 

The Soui^'s Grandeur 173 

Angei, Ministry 178 

BE Not Discouraged 182 

Repose of Soui. Is Strength ..... 187 

HopEFui, Mourning 192 

True Success 197 



Making the Most of Life 



MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFK 
Under His wings shalt thou trust. — Psalms xci., 4. 

WHIIvE travelling in a strange country last 
winter I very soon learned that my first 
duty was to be prepared for anything that might 
hL ppen. For that matter, it was not simply a duty, 
but a necessity. 

There were serious inconveniences at every tum^ 
and on more than one occasion imminent danger to 
limb or life. But after I had taken myself well in 
hand and begun to make a practical application of 
my religious belief, convincing mj^self that God 
could take care of me on a bleak, wintry night as 
easil}^ as on a tropical morning, and that if any 
catastrophe occurred it was just as near to heaven 



2 MAKING THK MOST OF I^IFE 

from the Persian border as from my little home in 
New York, my mental attitude produced a result 
which was exceedingly gratifying. I was not onlj'- 
more serene in temper, but better equipped to bear 
discomfort with patience, if not with indifference. 
Hardships became less hard and extreme weariness 
less wearisome from the moment I came to regard 
them as a slender price to be paid for valuable in- 
formation. 

I indulge in this personal reminiscence because 
my journey from sea to sea represents the journey 
we are all making from the cradle to the stars, and 
because the state of mind that gave me a power 
of endurance which oftentimes excites my wonder 
is precisel}^ what is needed by every one who would 
get the best results from the various experiences of 
our human life. 

To brood over evils and obstacles is to magnify 
them. To magnify them is to diminish your ability 
to resist or overcome. If you convince yourself that 
you can do whatever stint God may see fit to appor- 
tion, the conviction makes the heart bold, and so 
reacts on the physical system that you literally pos- 
sess additional strength. 



MAKING THE MOST OF WFE 3 

The moment you persuade a man that his life is 
good for nothing you perform a disastrous miracle 
and as certainly rob him of energy as the shorn locks 
of Samson changed him from a giant to a pigmy. 

A theory of religion which begins with depressing 
your ambition and your consciousness of power is 
sure to end by depriving you of the ability to live 
nobly. But the simple and fascinating and uplift- 
ing religion of Christ, which constantly whispers, * ' I 
will be with you unto the end of the world," and, 
'' Ye are of more value than many sparrows," and 
yet, ' ' Not even a sparrow can fall to the ground 
without your Father's notice," and, "Come unto Me 
all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give 
you rest " — that religion is the unclouded sunshine 
of every day and the glory of every starlit night. 
There is not only hope in it, but continual joy, and 
not only joy, but a mysterious something which 
paints a rainbow on your griefs and sings a song of 
triumph over the grave. 

Christ is the most encouraging preacher of whom 
history bears record. What more sublime or stir- 
ring picture can be found than that which tells of a 
God who will leave the ninety-and-nine who are well 



4 MAKING THK MOST OF WFK 

housed, and roam over the bleak hills iu search of 
the poor homeless creature who has rendered him- 
self homeless by some fault of his own ? No, we 
know nothing about Christianity as yet. It is still 
an unexplained miracle of revelation. We have a 
theological belief in God, but it is confusing and per- 
plexing. What we need is that kind of a glimpse 
of Him which the babe has of its mother when she 
bends over it with the glow of love in her face and 
so draws the child that it throws its arms about 
her neck, not for protection, but in response to the 
heart's deepest emotions. 

Life's journey will lead you over the mountain- 
tops of ecstasy and happiness and through the valley 
of defeat and misery. Our years bring us strange 
experiences, many of which seem to involve unfair- 
ness and inj ustice on the part of Providence. There 
is hard work to be done, there are burdens to be 
borne, there are afflictions to be endured. No one is 
wholly content or can expect to be on this side of 
eternity. I think the Lord understands why in our 
ignorance we should on occasions feel even bitterly 
toward Him, and I know that a great deal of pa- 
tience is required on His part to bear with our 



MAKING THE MOST OF I.IFE 5 

wrongdoing and our complaints. If He were not 
patient the world would have come to an end long 
ago. This is a fact not to be forgotten. 

I^et us search for the truth of the matter, for truth 
is the concert pitch of the music of the spheres. And 
that truth is that the one great desire of God is that 
we shall so use our lives that we shall feel at home 
when we get to heaven. In the accomplishment of 
that purpose — I say it with reverence — He has made 
great sacrifices. It is His wish that your soul shall 
be disciplined, developed, ripened, sweetened, by 
whatever happens to you, and you cannot doubt that 
unseen agencies are round about you to give you 
help when help is needed and to give you good cheer 
always. You are not alone in your struggles, nor 
yet in your defeats. The angels of heaven are never 
far away. They are with you in your trials, but 
hidden from view, for if you were to see them it 
would be no longer possible to live. 

With this holy faith in your heart you will be- 
come a new being. Your fears and doubts are like 
the slender cords with which the dwarfs pinned Gul- 
liver to the ground and held him captive. But faith 
is to the soul what the ozone of the mountain-sum- 



6 MAKING THK MOST OF I,IFK 

mit is to the body. It stimulates, it rouses enthusi- 
asm, it renews your youth, it keeps j^ou young until 
that last day when you fall asleep with a pleasant 
good-night on your lips, to be wakened by the wel- 
coming good-morning of the angels. 



EASTER MORNING 

I ascend unto my Father, and your Father. — St. John 
XX., 17. 

A T this solemn season of the year our thoughts 
-'* take on the wings of the eagle and dwell for a 
time in the upper air. Life with its carking cares 
dwindles until it becomes a dream, while immortality 
becomes the stalwart and magnificent fact in our 
consciousness. 

As the great sun in his lordly march through 
space drives all mists before him, showering his 
creative energy on the cold earth until it grows 
warm under abundant crops and fragrant flowers, so 
shines the glory of heaven on our troubled souls, 
leaving therein a peace that passeth understanding 
and a faith that looks hopefully forward through 
eyes bedimmed with tears. 

One can bear hardship with something like cheer- 
fulness if he can hear the distant chimes which will 
usher in a period of respite and rest. Faith in the 



8 MAKING THK MOST OF LIFK 

other life seems necessary to any high accomplish- 
ment in this life. If death is a bolted door, we weep 
unceasingly until memory gives way to partial for- 
getfulness ; but if it is an open gate through which 
come the echoing voices of the departed, we not only 
long for them, but long to be with them. When the 
angels cried, *' He is risen! " the world stood still in 
wonder, and every generation since has placed flow- 
ers on its graves. 

As for me, the other life is a clear and distinct fact. 
I have more faith in it than I have in this life, and, 
thus believing, I must, of course, regard it as alto- 
gether preferable to this life. If either the present 
or the future is a dream, then I am sure that I am 
dreaming now and that the grand reality is to come. 

To feel that there is a fire in me which is simply 
smouldering during my earthly years because of my 
bodily limitations, but which will break into an un- 
restrained blaze when death, the great hypnotist, 
shall put my physical system to sleep — that feeling 
forces me to look forward with high anticipations. 
I may be amazed as I contemplate this truth, but 
my amazement gives place to plans which outreach 
the narrow boundaries of time. The soul pulses 



EASTER MORNING 9 

with pride at thought of its greatness and its des- 
tiny, and must live in accordance with them. My 
body is the hut in which something divine is dwell- 
ing. This hut is convenient and comfortable, and 
is well enough for its purpose. I thoroughly enjoy 
my residence, for the forests and plains and oceans 
and clouds are all beautiful. And yet within my 
inner self I know that the hut will soon be too small 
for occupancy. The storms have already worked 
such havoc with roof and walls that I can see the day 
approaching when it will fall to pieces. But I shall 
not crumble. This longing, aspiring something 
which I call myself cares very little what becomes 
of the hut. It is no concern of mine. I can see the 
law of nature at its work with this task of slow de- 
struction, but why should it disturb me ? And when 
that hut is no longer habitable, when it becomes un- 
able to afford me shelter, I shall pack my few belong- 
ings, those that I can carry with me, and with a 
twofold feeling of sadness and gladness, and with a 
parting hand-shake for my neighbors, I shall enter 
the mansion not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens. The transfer from one home to the other will 
be the simplest and most natural thing in the world. 



lO MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

Sometimes I wonder what great purpose this pres- 
ent life subserves, but the other life seems consistent 
with the omnipotence and loving kindness of the 
Father. I am puzzled by strange experiences. I 
do not know what they mean and cannot guess. I 
ask myself why some people laugh who ought ap- 
parently to cry, and why others cry who ought to 
laugh. But when I think of the future, with its 
broad expanse of opportunity, of the spirit with 
powers which can develop indefinitely, of this pigmy 
soul which in some other world will grow to be a 
giant, I am certain that what puzzle me now, these 
curious inconsistencies and seeming injustices, must 
be contributory to the education of man and are a 
necessary stepping-stone to higher things. 

But there is something more. When Jesus came 
to this earth did He come alone ? That is unthink- 
able. Was there no interest in heaven in the work 
He was about to achieve, and was He unaccom- 
panied? That would be the strangest incident in 
the history of the two worlds which He was to bring 
into closer relations with each other. Indeed, if the 
record is true, there were legions of angels who 
watched the progress of events with increasing soli- 



KASTER MORNING II 

citude. He knew they were there, though the blind 
eyes of His followers could not detect their presence, 
and on more than one occasion He leaned on them 
for sympathetic support. 

And when He left as a legacy to the faithful man 
the promise that He and the Father would * * come 
unto him and make our abode with him " is it sup- 
posable that no angels would leave the heavenly 
precincts to succor the distressed and lighten our 
burdens ? I think not. The host of the departed, 
those whom we have loved but not lost, are as close 
to humanity now as in the olden days. All heaven 
is round about us, ministering to our wants, cheering 
us in our discouragement and leading us with invis- 
ible hands. If only our eyes could be opened we 
should see wondrous things. But it is better that 
we should not see too clearly — that we walk for a 
time not by sight, but by faith. 

This Kaster morn is radiant with the sunshine 
that warms the soul. Our dear ones wait on the 
other shore. .It is Kaster morning with them also. 
When the hour arrives and we are made free we 
shall rejoice with exceeding joy. In the meantime, 
patience to bear and courage to do ! 



ONE DAY AT A TIMK 
Sufficient unto the day. — St. Matthew vi., 34. 

T IFK is made up of innumerable ' * present mo- 
^— ' ments," and if you attend to the duty or bear 
the burden of each one as it comes, without borrow- 
ing trouble from either the past or the future, you 
are in the best possible spiritual condition. 

We needlessly add to our load the memory of out- 
lived sorrows or the anticipation of sorrows to come, 
and make life harder to bear. 

When Jesus declared that "sufficient unto the day 
is the evil thereof ' ' He proclaimed a philosophy of 
well-being which after fifty generations of continu- 
ous progress we still fail to comprehend. 

We have discovered almost everything else, but 

do not even yet know how to live at our best or to 

make the most of our circumstances. We can make 

preparations to go to heaven, but do not know how 

to bring heaven down to our earthly homes. And 

12 



ONE DAY AT A TIMB 1 3 

yet that is the chief object which true religion has 
in view. 

When you see at a distance the evils which 
threaten and which will come upon you next week 
or next month, your imagination gives them the 
proportions of giants. If you lay aside all thought 
of them and simply live in each day, doing each 
day's duty and bearing each day's burden as cheer- 
fully as possible, you would find, when these dreaded 
evils come, either that you are stronger than you 
thought to bear them or that they are smaller than 
you expected them to be. 

It sometimes happens when you are travelling 
along a country road that there is what seems to be 
a very steep, an almost impossible hill half a mile 
ahead. But when you are close to it you discover 
that the road has only a slight inclination after all, 
and that by some law of optical illusion the road 
looked as though it was almost perpendicular. So, 
brooding over an evil or dreading it for any length 
of time always enlarges it. The same thing hap- 
pens that made the country road seem steeper than 
it was, and you regard endurance as impossible. 
But when you are in the midst of the experience it 



14 MAKING the; most OF LIFE 

is not as severe as you thought it would be, or else 
your shoulders have been mysteriously broadened 
and you are able to bear it without serious difficulty. 

It is a very severe injunction to give no thought 
to the morrow, but to let the morrow take care of 
itself while you live happilj^ in the present day. I 
confess to being greatly puzzled by it. I have not 
yet reached the spiritual altitude at which obedience 
to that injunction seems even a possibility. Never- 
theless, I am sure that under it is an uncompre- 
hended principle, the value of which the world will 
some time discover. 

If we were really to believe that this is God's 
world and that we are God's children, if we could 
convince ourselves that there is a Providence in the 
affairs of life and that the statement that as our day 
is so shall our strength be is not a poetic fiction, but 
a practical fact, we could then enjoy a degree of re- 
pose to which we are now strangers. 

And yet that is the only condition of mind which 
can truly be called religious. If you feel that every- 
thing is going wrong ; that it is impossible for you 
to set things right and useless to ask the Lord to do 
it, and that therefore you are in a very sorry plight, 



ONE DAY AT A TIME 1 5 

there can be nothing in your heart that resembles 
religious feeling — no praise, or worship, or grati- 
tude, or faith, or resignation. On the contrar}', 3'ou 
are in open rebellion, and you and religion are not 
within sound of each other's voices. 

Now, I do not ignore the hardships of life. I 
know too much about them to do that. They are 
real, they are serious, they are trying and perplex- 
ing. Still, I insist that it is neither prudent nor 
wise, and I am sure it is not conducive to health, to 
summon the regrets of the past like so many ghosts 
to haunt and frighten you, or to ponder the possi- 
bilities of the future until your present is shadowed 
and weakened. If what you have to do now is 
done cheerfully you will find yourself in good condi- 
tion for to-morrow, whatever it may bring. That is 
practical and possible. 

I am not praising a careless life, but am warning 
against needless anxiety. I believe a man should 
plan for his future, but he ought to live in his pres- 
ent. In going down-stairs you ought to give to 
each successive step its due amount of attention, for 
otherwise you may slip and fall. In living your life 
you must not ignore or despise any one day, but 



l6 MAKING the: most OF I,IFK 

must give to each its proper care. This one hour is 
yours, therefore fill it to the brim with fidelity. 
When the next hour comes do the same thing. It 
is a very simple rule, but it contains the very spirit 
and essence of religion. 

Cultivate the happier side of your nature ; sup- 
press the tendency to fret and complain. 

Never for a moment imagine that because you are 
gloomy you are therefore pleasing to God. 

He made the birds to sing, and you are to join in 
the chorus. 

Get as much enjoyment out of life as you can, and 
see that you contribute to the enjoyment of others. 

Make the world brighter because you are in it and 
because j^ou have a warm heart and a generous hand. 

Make the most of each passing moment, and when 
future moments come, bringing their sterner duties, 
you will be ready for them. 

So long as God lives you will have no need to 
worry overmuch. 



THE BATTI.K OF LIFE 

I have fought a good fight. — 2 Timothy iv., 7. 

A SOLDIER coming home! What memories he 
** brings and what a welcome he receives! After 
the hardships of the tented field what joy to clasp 
the hands of dear ones and friends! The conscious- 
ness of duty well done sweetens the peace and rest 
which have been so nobly earned. The thunderous 
diapason of war becomes only an echo, and the 
heart is melted by the sweeter music of the mother's 
voice and the rejoicing of the household. 

How like a human life is the going forth, and, 
best of all, the coming back! Our seventy years are 
also a battle-field on which great victories may be 
won, and when kindly Death beckons — Death is 
neither so stern nor so cruel as people think him, 
but rather a gentle friend who closes our eyes in 
sweet vSleep from which angels wake us — he re- 
stores us, not to the old home, which has fallen into 

a 

17 



1 8 MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFK 

decay and ruin, but to a home in the house not 
made with hands, in which the loved though not 
lost await our coming. Our welcome there will be 
more cordial than any that earth ever dreamed of, 
and after the first surprise is over we shall be as 
glad as the soldier who has been mustered out. 

The points of resemblance between a life and a 
campaign are many and significant. They are 
worth considering. 

When our soldiers enlisted they entered on a new 
and untried experience, and one which would by its 
various incidents put their mettle to its test. It was 
not a holiday, but a work-day, that lay before them. 
They were subjected to a severe discipline, but they 
knew that discipline was necessary to make them 
efficient. They bore it cheerfully, even when it was 
most rigid, for the}^ saw the meaning of it. Victor}'^ 
was impossible without it, and although its hand 
was very heavy at times, it so equipped them that 
when the opportunity to do some deed of prowess 
was presented they were ready and able to make use 
of it. 

It is the same with the soul that stands on the 
edge of a career which begins with birth and ends— 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 1 9 

never. Life will try a man's mettle more severely 
than the trenches of Santiago. And it has victories 
whose laurel wreaths are as fadeless as eternit5\ 
We go forth with high imaginings of renown, for 
our youth is a beautiful dream, and with the illusive 
consciousness of strength which will bend the direst 
fate to our purpose. But the thoughtful learn ere 
long that there is a headquarters from which all 
commands proceed. There is discipline in life as in 
the army, and in both instances the object is the 
same, namely, to school the man, to show him that 
his commander-in-chief is law, a law which is be- 
neficent when obeyed and inexorable when defied. 
That law does not interfere with his freedom to make 
a hero of himself, but rather furnishes him with ad- 
ditional courage and energy. It is only when the 
man knows more than his chief and chooses his own 
way at any hazard that the iron hand is laid on his 
shoulder. When the soldier is in accord with the 
spirit of the campaign he is in the proper mental 
attitude for the accomplishment of great deeds, and 
when the soul is in harmony with spiritual law 
neither death nor life nor principalities nor powers 
can throw it out of poise. The soldier must walk in 



20 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFK 

the shadow of his commander, the soul must rest in 
serene faith under the wing of the Almighty. 

Again, there were many acts of personal heroism 
during the recent war which will never be known or 
applauded, more 's the pity. History attends only 
to the most salient and conspicuous details, and is 
just as apt to forget some as to remember others. 
There is in history a favoritism which seems to 
be the result of chance. Omniscience discovers a 
thousand glorious deeds which will never be re- 
corded, and a thousand privates have been as brave 
and self-sacrificing as their officers, though no one 
but God is aware of the fact. 

Is this not also true of life in time of peace ? Are 
our real heroes and heroines all known? To the 
angels in heaven, yes ; to men, no. There are 
women and men hidden under the shadow of oblivion 
whose merits will never be acknowledged in this 
world. They have struggled in the dark, with only 
the stars for witnesses. They have borne with pa- 
tience the slings and arrows of adversity. They 
have knelt in uncomplaining resignation when over- 
whelmed by affliction. There are many martyrs' 
crowns of which we know nothing. 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 21 

But there is no comer of the earth closed to the 
Lord. He knows all, sees all, and will reward all. 
No favoritism up yonder, and no neglect of what is 
due. For this reason we shall see and hear strange 
things when we reach the farther shore. There are 
nobles whom we never visit, to whom no hats are 
doffed on the street. 

Once more. There is a going home after life's 
strange conflict. We are being mustered out one by- 
one. A silent procession is marching da}' and night 
over the bridge which spans the abyss of death. 
Their arrival is watched for, and when the journey 
is over there will be a reunion too sweet for mortal 
man to conceive, for '* eye hath not seen nor ear 
heard the things which God hath prepared for those 
who love Him." 

We have enlisted for the war. We are already 
in the midst of the fray. The victory is in the 
future, and it is a sure victory for the brave and 
loyal. 

Be true to j^our noblest convictions with unswerv- 
ing fidelity and neither life nor death can do you 
harm. 

Be brave to meet your fortune, whatever it may 



22 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

be, and you shall have the conscious companionship 
of the angels. 

When the day's work is done and the setting sun 
gilds the western clouds you will be mustered out 
and sent home to your dear ones in heaven. 



WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE? 
Whither wilt thou go? — Genesis xvi., 8. 

I SUPPOSE that if I were to ask the first hundred 
* people whom I met on the street this question, 
" What object have you chiefly in view in your 
life? " a large proportion of them would hesitate be- 
fore answering. This hesitation would not come 
from the fact that because I was a stranger I had no 
right to put the intrusive question, but from the 
more significant fact that they did not themselves 
know what they were living for, or what they most 
of all desired to attain. 

If we were merely birds of the air, or only lions or 
tigers in the world's great forests, we should not 
need to have any other aim than to find a secure 
resting-place for the night and to live in the sun- 
shine all day. The bird has small use for reasoning 
power, because his unerring instinct makes it so 

pleasant to sail northward in summer and southward 

23 



24 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

in winter that he never fails to make the journey. 
God seems to have given him everything that he 
needs, and there is really nothing to ask for. So 
the lion has his jungle to roam in, a hunting pre- 
serve of which he is lord and master, and a cavern as 
a hiding-place when he is sleepy. He is entirely 
satisfied, is undisturbed by dreams of ambition and 
neither knows nor cares how the rest of creation is 
getting on. His limitations make perfect content- 
ment possible. 

But a man is a lion plus a good deal more. And 
it is that plus quantity in which consists his great- 
ness. You and I have the nature of the animal, but 
we have something besides. When we see a man, 
and we sometimes do see such, who is a tiger in his 
business transactions, who takes everything within 
reach no matter to whom it belongs, who is satisfied 
if he is himself comfortable, but cares nothing for the 
comfort or the rights of others, we condemn him 
with the same quick impulse with which we throw a 
stone at a snake. This condemnation of what the 
man is is our unconscious tribute to what he might 
be and what he ought to be. The ideal life is in 
our thoughts all the time, and that is what puts a 



WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE? 25 

bridgeless chasm between us and the brutes. There 
is a spark in us which has been taken from the altar 
of God. It is possible for us to be merely animals, 
and also gloriously possible to be archangels, yet 
archangels who work for wages, who weep over 
graves, who struggle with misfortune. The lion 
looks along a line parallel with the earth, but we 
look along a line that has a star at the other end of 
it. 

The question, '* What is your purpose in life?" is 
therefore a pertinent one. If you were to meet the 
captain of a noble vessel in mid-ocean and should 
hail him with your "Whither bound?" and he 
should answer, *' I am not bound for any port, but 
am simply drifting," you would think him little less 
than a maniac. The real captain has chart, com- 
pass, and destination. It is his business to take the 
sun every day, to know what progress he is making, 
and what is the condition of his vessel. 

All this is true of you and me also. It is a seri- 
ous, a solemn, and a joyful privilege to live. Life 
may be a great mystery, but it is a great happiness. 
That at your birth you started on an eternal career 
is a fact that may stagger the intellect while it kin- 



26 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

dies the profoundest gratitude of the heart. It is not 
for nothing that you were made, but for a glorious 
something. You are thrown upon a world in which 
laughter mingles with tears, and crime and virtue 
jostle each other at every turn, a world in which it 
seems hard to be good and easy to be bad, a world 
so capricious that it fosters a rich vice and neglects 
the heroism of the poor. But you are armed for the 
combat with qualities of character of such sturdy 
material that your soul will grow with every strug- 
gle as muscles grow by exercise. A very god you 
are, with hardships and temptations ahead of you. 
And in addition to your own strength you have the 
invisible angels for helpers in time of need, who 
never yet failed to heed your cry. They were with 
the Christ: they will be with you. 

You are not only to live bravely or to live cheer- 
fully, but to live grandly and nobly. Your purpose 
shall be to make your own days as comfortable as 
may be and to be a comfort to others also. The 
well-fed lion lies in the sun no matter if his brother 
lion starves. He does this because he is merely a 
lion. The man, however, rises from his soft couch 
and carries a part of his surplus to those who are 



WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE? 27 

unhappy, and he does it because he is a son of God 
and a brother to all mankind. 

Live with a purpose, and that purpose righteous- 
ness. Be strong in the strength of the Lord. Honor 
3^ourself by being honorable in all your dealings. 
Hate no man, but hate all meanness and cruelty and 
vice. Be broad and generous and charitable, but 
not too charitable to yourself. Keep heaven in sight, 
and then heavenl}^ influences will surround you. 
Judge no man harshlj^, for you must yourself be 
judged some day. Hold your temper in a firm grip, 
for if it escapes it will do you an injury and cause 
regrets. Believe that above all is the dear provi- 
dence of the Father, who will see to it that we have 
rest when the day's hard work is well over. 



THE POSSIBLE MAN 
For we are also His offspring. — Acts xvii., 28. 

TF an electric current is passed through a bar of 
■* steel a very curious transformation takes place. 
The steel is no longer its simple self, but itself plus 
something which the electric current has left as an 
endowment. From that instant it has a power of 
attraction never before possessed, a new life, and is 
conscious of a close relation with that great body of 
electricity which fills the universe. The bit of metal 
which beforetime would have lain at its side in list- 
less indifference is suddenly eager to attach itself 
to the bar, and the steel is drawn by sympathj^ to 
every scrap of iron on the planet. In our boyhood 
days we have all tried this interesting experiment 
and been surprised and delighted at the result. 

Something of the same sort happened to the hu- 
man soul when it came from the hand of God. The 
infinite finger-tips no sooner touched the raw ma- 

2S 



THE POSSIBLE MAN 2g 

terial out of which we were fashioned, the breath of 
our Maker no sooner entered our nostrils, than there 
was estabHshed an intimacy between the soul and its 
God, for when God had finished the task there was 
something left in the man which will forever draw 
him toward everything that is high and holy, and 
will not let him rest until he has reached his ideal. 
A certain appreciation of the heroic and noble thus 
became an irresistible element of our nature, and it 
asserts itself not only in th(5se who have striven for 
righteousness, but also in those who have buried 
their best selves under the debris of passion and dis- 
solute pleasure. The saint cries, "My God!" in 
the moment of peril, but not more eagerly than the 
poor creature who denies His existence. The athe- 
ist is as apt to do it as the Christian, for it is the 
voice of the natural man. There is enough of the 
divine in the most wretched wrecks among men to 
force this appeal from the lips in dire extremity. 

There is a moiety of creative energy in us all. 
Though we seldom put it to use, we are conscious 
of its presence. Heaven and God are both in the 
heart of man, and reverence for the one and hope of 
the other can no more be extinguished than you can 



30 MAKING THK MOST OF I.IFE 

put out a conflagration with a bucket of water. 
God is the Creator of the world; man is the creator 
of his own character. The angels will help him in 
his task and the Father will surround him with the 
divine influences which arouse spiritual ambition, but 
the work must be begun and continued by himself. 

The animal is limited by the circumference of 
merely animal life, and nothing beyond that circum- 
ference can be expected. The perfect animal has 
fulfilled his mission. But the circumference of hu- 
man nature is far beyond this. The soul works in a 
domain which includes the throne of the Eternal, 
and no man can achieve his full destiny until he 
becomes godlike. "Noblesse oblige" is an old 
phrase, which means that a man's origin decides his 
duties. Born to the throne, the king's son must 
be imperial in his conduct and allow no blot on his 
escutcheon. Born of the King of Righteousness, with 
the doors of heaven always open for the free access 
of his prayers, with hosts of angels interested in his 
failures and successes, the soul of man, endowed 
with the creative faculty, must keep its eyes fastened 
on everlasting truth, and labor to make itself ready 
to enter the Presence without a blemish. That is the 



THE POSSIBLE MAN 3I 

ideal, not to be realized perhaps in this lower sphere, 
but certainly to be realized sometime and somewhere. 

Man the arbiter of his own destiny! Not able to 
exceed the limits of his natural capacity, but able to 
make himself perfect within those limits — a very 
king within his sphere, and held responsible by the 
Almighty for the honest use of his powers. He 
needs only to appreciate himself, the Creator behind 
him, the Throne far ahead of him, to be filled with 
that sublime ambition which achieves self-respect as 
well as success. His incoming into this world, his 
outgoing from this world at death, present such in- 
spiring motives that evil cannot charm him while 
virtues entice. He cannot help being brave, bearing 
himself nobly in peril and storm, when he sees that 
God is solicitous for his welfare and all the angels 
that fill the heavens are ready to do him a service. 

That is religion, the religion of the Christ. It is 
the robust religion that the world craves. Its creed 
is short — only love that soars to the stars, and love 
that lends a helping hand to the needy. It is a re- 
ligion which will bear the stress and strain of for- 
tune, urging us ever upward until our weary feet 
touch the golden threshold of eternity. 



SIMPLE GOODNESS 

Jesus of Nazareth, who went about doing good. — Acts x., 38. 

T SAID to a very wise friend the other day that 

■^ one of the discouragements of life is the lack of 

gratitude on the part of those whom you have 

helped, at perhaps considerable cost to yourself. I 

had a peculiarly exasperating instance in mind, 

wherein I had done a signal service and it had been 

received as a matter of course. 

His repl}'' rather startled me. If we are really 

of one family, he said, and God is our common 

Father, the poorest sufferer would have a divine 

right to call on us for assistance and an equal right 

to expect us to furnish it. Religion, however, is 

so little a realit5^ and so largely a dream, that we 

think ourselves peculiarly virtuous when we go out 

of our way to do a neighbor a good turn, and take 

credit for an act which ought to be regarded as a 

matter of course. In a better world than this, and in 

32 



SIMPLE GOODNESS 33 

this world when it becomes what the Christ sought 
to make it, any attempt to avoid lending a help- 
ing hand must be followed by pangs of self-re- 
proach. In such a world selfishness is the very 
prince of darkness, the fertile source of all possible 
evils. 

As to gratitude for your acts, you have nothing to 
do with it. If you get it you may take comfort to 
yourself, but if you fail to get it the quality of your 
act remains the same. You are Christ's servant 
and so bound to put your shoulder to a wheel that 
is mired whether 5'^ou receive thanks or not. To 
expect gratitude as a kind of quid pro quo is to in- 
ject a commercial element into 3'our life which is 
quite unworthy. A good action will stand alone in 
any part of the universe, and if men forget to thank 
you God will not. 

Some men do right and keep the commandments 
with the hope of thereby getting to heaven. It is 
the principle of quid pro quo again, and is not to be 
tolerated. The right is the right, and though you 
were damned for doing it it would still be your duty. 
You have nothing to do with rewards or punish- 
ments, and the more largely they enter into your 
3 



34 MAKING THK MOST OF I,IFK 

calculation the lower the moral level 5^ou will oc- 
cupy. Goodness is goodness, and the result it pro- 
duces in the development of character, in sturdiness 
of manhood, in the fine mettle of honor and noble- 
ness, is the only reward you can honestly look for. 
No man ever went to heaven without having a 
heavenly heart. His creed has nothing to do with 
his getting there. A thousand creeds will not save 
you unless there is something behind them. Not 
what you believe is of consequence, but your attitude 
toward whatever is good and true and noble. A 
good motive is far more effective spiritually than a 
good thought ; for you may have the thought but 
not the deed which is its natural result, whereas if 
you have the motive the deed will follow without 
being urged. 

Practical religion requires you to show some 
reason why your life should be prolonged day by 
day. You owe the world a great deal more than it 
owes you. You are under a moral obligation to do 
something or to say something to some one of your 
fellow creatures before you have any right to ask for 
refreshing sleep. You have lost a day unless you 
have given your share of the impetus which drives 



SIMPLE GOODNESS 35 

souls upward. Life which consists of breathing 
and eating and an enviable environment is the life 
of an animal ; it counts for nothing. The soul must 
be fed as well as the bod}^, and it flourishes in health 
only w^hen you love your kind and are ready to lift 
the load from the shoulders of friend or stranger 
without the hope of any other reward than the ap- 
proval of God and the smile of the angels. 

If you will, you can make your life grand in that 
way. Get for yourself and your family, but, as you 
get, give. The giving and not the getting is the main 
point. Close your eyes on noday without a kind w^ord, 
a bit of advice, something which shall fall into the 
general treasury as a coin from the mint of heaven. 
That is chivalry; that is manliness; that is religion. 
Christ gave all, and such was His nature and mis- 
sion that He could n't have given less ; but we can 
give a little, and that little will prove the founda- 
tion of a happiness which shall fill the present with 
peace and happiness and irradiate the future with 
the hope of a blessed immortality. A good deed 
is a bit of heaven, and the more good deeds the 
more of heaven. The love of self is cruelty to 
self; the love of others is godlike. If you cross 



36 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

the valley with your arms full of greed you will be 
a stranger in the new climate, but if you can carry 
with you a heart that has beat warmly for man- 
kind you will find a generous welcome beyond the 
grave. 



THINGS NOT WORTH WHII,K 

Thou hast sinned against thy soul. — Habakkuk ii., lo. 

THE object of religion is to make life sweet and 
satisfactory. When a man has done the best 
he could under the circumstances he has done all 
that God requires of him. Heaven is not for those 
who believe things, but for those who do things. 
Christ was a working man in its largest and most 
divine sense, while we are all working men in a 
small sense. He worked for others, and was there- 
fore divine; we work for ourselves, and are therefore 
pitifully human. His religion teaches us to become 
a part of the life of those who need our help ; our 
tendency is to take from others for our own ease and 
comfort, and to give as little as possible. He em- 
phasizes the value of the soul, gives it a dignity and 
a grandeur, the gait and bearing of a king; our phil- 
osophy of life minimizes spritual pleasures and mag- 
nifies what is sensuous. 

37 



38 MAKING THE MOST OF I^IFK 

I never tire of the New Testament, because it 
is such a desperately sensible book, and because it 
flatly contradicts the ideas which worldly society 
puts into my head. It is always new, therefore, 
and almost always startling. If the soul is what He 
tells me it is, then I must have a large plan. If I 
am really little lower than the angels, then I must 
cease to be childish, and the small cares of life must 
not be allowed to tease and fret me. In that case I 
should look life in the face and say to my soul that 
it must busy itself about great things and keep in 
mind that petty things are not worthy of attention. 

For example, it is not worth while to be impatient 
because what happens is not to our liking. We are 
apt to make a hot reply when an ill-natured remark 
is made. Somebody else's bad mood excites a bad 
mood in us. We catch the disease instantly, and 
then there are two persons in a bad mood instead of 
one. Passion is heated to the exploding point, we 
give rein to our tongue, and a pitched battle of 
words takes place. We loosen the bonds of a friend- 
ship, we wound the heart of affection, for what we 
say is a consuming fire. If we had a perfect control 
of ourselves we should not be gunpowder to any 



THINGS NOT WORTH WHILE 39 

one's torch. A little patience, very difl&cult to at- 
tain, I admit, would keep us from striking when we 
are struck. It is noble to keep still, and the rebuke 
of silence is like a keen sword. It is not worth our 
while, not worth the soul's while, to step down to a 
lower level because some one addresses us from that 
level. We should maintain our dignity though 
others lose theirs. 

Then, again, it is not becoming in a princely soul 
to allow the habit of fault-finding to get possession 
of it. It renders one uncomfortable, it unfits one 
for the enjoyments which cross our path, it dulls the 
edge of happiness, it is like eating a lemon instead 
of an orange. The man who finds fault with others 
seldom has time to find fault with himself, which is 
his chief duty. Instead of being charitable he is 
censorious. Not even the Lord can please him, and 
if he ever gets to heaven he will insist that things 
shall be arranged to suit his personal taste. Fault- 
finding is simpl}^ self-conceit in a subtle disguise. 
Such a man hints that the universe is wrong, but 
that he can put it right. It is not worth while to 
peer at the defects of others and to ignore their vir- 
tues. It is better to look for good things, because 



40 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

you are sure to find them if you look long enough, 
than to look for bad things and then waste your 
time in grumbling because they are bad. If God 
were dethroned such a man would try to take His 
place ; but since God reigns it would be well for the 
fault-finder to retire to the background and try to be 
thankful for mercies received, rather than criticise 
the Almighty for not giving him what he thinks he 
ought to have. 

Once more, it is not worth your while to look on 
the dark side of life, for that destroys your power of 
resistance and endurance. There is sometimes a 
hard side to God's providence, but never a dark 
side. He does undoubtedly ask us to do some 
strange things, and to go through some strange ex- 
periences; but if He goes with us we are not only in 
good company, but are sure to derive some benefit 
from it all. Strong characters are wrought by tears, 
and afflictions are stepping-stones to heaven if we 
view them from the right standpoint and put them 
to their proper use. Life is not all gladness, but 
sadness is the hot fire in which the Toledo blade is 
forged. We may not always know why we suffer, 
for no explanation has ever been given, but some- 



THINGS NOT WORTH WHILE 4I 

how or other the suffering souls are always the 
noblest, provided they suffer under the shadow of 
God's sympathy. To be unconscious of His pres- 
ence makes life very heavy and leaden, but to be 
conscious of it is like catching a glimpse of the dis- 
tant home when the weary traveller is ready to drop 
by the wayside. 

Yes, a soul, an immortal soul, with heaven and 
heavenly beings all about, is a magnificent mystery. 
It must live up to its destiny, and put under its feet 
the fears and doubts which are so intrusive and so 
persistent. Think of yourself as God's child, to 
whom no real harm can possibly come, and the 
clouds will part and your depression will be light- 
ened. There are still stars overhead, and a blue 
sky. It will be all right bj^ and by. In the mean- 
time be patient, and, above all, keep your faith 
bright and pure. 



TWO BODIES 

There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. — 
I Corinthians xv., 44. 

"X X THILE enjoying a brief sojourn in Europe it 
* ^ was my privilege to have an interview with 
Max Nordau. I was curious to look into the face 
of the man who had the audacity to write the word 
* * degeneration ' ' on the page of history — a word, 
however, which the spirit of progress immediately 
erased, for one must eliminate God from the uni- 
verse before he can play the dirge of despair. 

Considering my profession, it was natural that the 
conversation should grope its way to the subject of 
personal immortality. When I find a delver into 
the problems which form the basis of stanch faith or 
sturdy doubt I like nothing more than a candid re- 
lation of his reasons for belief or unbelief. 

While my friend was engaged in the serious task 

of proving that the grave is the inevitable terminus 

42 



Two BODIES 43 

of life's devious pathway and brushing immortality 
away as an interfering and intrusive cobweb, P^re 
Hyacinthe was announced. Then I witnessed a 
battle royal between two well-armed knights, both 
of whom had the courage of their convictions, and 
neither of whom lacked the ability to defend his 
position. For sixty minutes the conflict raged with 
shot and shell of logic and rhetoric and facts. It 
was a spectacle which those who saw it will not 
easily forget. As I looked and listened it seemed to 
me that I could see the dim figure of the Christ in 
the shadowy background of that room, and could 
hear a still, small voice whispering : *' In my Fa- 
ther's house are many mansions ; if it were not 
so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place 
for you." The question which was being so elo- 
quently discussed assumed a practical aspect in my 
mind, and I said to myself, ** Which of these two 
scholars offers his fellows the larger incentive, and 
which of these theories will better ser\^e as a foun- 
dation on which to build a noble character?" — for, 
after all has been said on both sides, we have just 
one criterion of judgment — namely, the practical 
results produced by the ideas advanced. When we 



44 MAKING THE MOST OF I,IF^ 

test ideas in that way we can definitely appraise their 
value. If a man oflfers us a new theory of political 
economy or of mechanics he must put it to the proof 
in practice. I^et him show us that it will work well, 
that it will do away with existing evils and increase 
human happiness, and then, but not till then, will 
we honor him while living and keep him in grateful 
remembrance when dead. 

No religion is worth a second thought which has 
not earned a right to our respect by producing holy 
lives. Theology is for scholars ; Christ is for all 
men. A volume in which speculative religion is 
discussed has no value in comparison with even the 
humblest life which illustrates the power of faith to 
transfigure the soul. If my religion makes me self- 
denying and sweetly resigned to whatever ills be- 
fall, and your doubt fails to produce equal results, I 
am not rash in asserting that what I believe is better 
than what you do not believe, and is much more 
likely to be true. 

So I sat in that room listening to the two speakers 
and at the same time thinking of something else. I 
went back to that solemn hour when I sat by a dy- 
ing father's side. Was it all an illusion — his promise 



TWO BODIES 45 

to meet me on the farther shore, his assurance that 
death was merely a retirement from mortal sight? 
No man ever closed his eyes more willingly in sleep 
than he, and none ever felt more sure of waking in 
the dawn of an eternal morning. When one can 
greet death with a smile and feel that the grim mes- 
senger is doing him a friendly service there must be 
a solid basis for his faith or this world is the worst 
of all places to live in. The religion which compels 
virtue and develops the grander qualities of charac- 
ter and puts a wreath of forget-me-nots on the grave 
is certainly to be prized. If it is false, unfounded, a 
mere hallucination, then the sooner we abolish De- 
ity the better, for He has made us with unspeaka- 
ble wisdom and furnished the soul with exquisite 
cruelty. 

And I wondered, as I sat there, what the effect 
would be if the sceptic were endowed with omnipo- 
tence and should sweep away our faith in immor- 
tality with his besom of destruction. Above every 
home is heaven. What it is, or where it is, we may 
not know until our feet press its green sod; but that 
there is a heaven and that we are journeying in 
that direction, and that the missing members of the 



46 MAKING THE MOST aF LIFE 

household await us there, yes, that we are guarded 
and guided and protected by the loved ones who 
dwell in that unseen and partially unknown world 
— this faith is as necessary as sunshine is to the 
crops and the flowers. A world in doubt is a world 
in darkness. 

You believe in honesty, and you have a right to 
be proud of the struggles you have passed through 
and still retained it. You believe in that brotherly 
charity which ministers to the unfortunate, and on 
that feeling our asylums and hospitals are built. 
You believe in a quiet and uncomplaining resigna- 
tion under affliction as a lofty level which every soul 
should strive to attain. You believe in an intrepid 
manhood and a pure womanhood, to be maintained 
at any cost. Well, make your arch out of these 
blocks of Parian marble, and when your work is 
nearly finished you will find that the only keystone 
which will fit its place and keep the structure firm is 
a faith that human beings have so much to do that 
immortality alone can satisfy the soul's demands. 
No life was ever yet completed on this earth. There- 
fore Christ said, "I go to prepare a place for you." 



NOBI,K IvIVING 

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather 
grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? — St. Matthew vii., i6. 

THIS is not the only utterance in which Christ 
emphasized the value of a good life. It is as 
eas}^ to see that He regarded honor, integrit}^ 
charity, and courage to be the chief characteristics of 
the ideal man as to see which way the current flows 
when 3^ou stand on the river's bank. His revela- 
tions were made for the purpose of teaching us how 
to produce the best practical results, just as the 
farmer would tell his son that he must clear the 
ground of stones, must plough, harrow, sow seed, 
and watch the growth of weeds if he expects to reap 
a harvest for his granary and barns. 

I suspect I am something of a fanatic on this sub- 
ject, for I think the man who puts himself to some 
trouble to give a cup of cold water to a thirsty child, 

and does it because he and that child are the ofif- 

47 



48 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

spring of the same Father, is better off morally and 
spiritually than the man who accepts the whole 
Nicene Creed, but drinks the water himself. In 
other words, the libert}^ of belief is very large and 
wide, but the necessity of right action is to the last 
degree imperative. If your belief helps you to be 
gracious and kindly and gentle, then your belief is 
to be cherished as a mother cherishes her little one ; 
but if you think to use this world for your own 
benefit only and expect j^our creed to carry you 
through the gate of heaven and into the approval of 
the Almighty, you will find out your mistake by and 
by. When I reach the other world and am ex- 
amined as to my past I would rather take the hand 
of some poor creature whom, with great pains, I 
saved from starvation or drink or some crime, and 
say, " I could not do much, dear Lord, for the time 
was short and the work was hard, but this brother 
of mine was going the wrong way and I persuaded 
him to turn his face to Thee," than to offer any 
other conceivable reason why I should be accepted 
with favor in that upper home. 

When we think of Christ in a large way, what 
fact impresses us, subdues us, forces us to fall at His 



NOBLE LIVING 49 

feet and touch the hem of His garment ? Is it not 
that He Hved as He taught us to live? In the 
single sentence, " My Father worketh hitherto, and 
I work," His whole career is summed up. He did 
what God wanted Him to do. The Father's pur- 
pose was His purpose, and He knew no other pur- 
pose. In order to accomplish it He was carried over 
the hills of Judea in the garb and the poverty of a 
peasant, under the hospitable roof of Bethany, into 
the shadow of Gethsemane, and along the rugged 
slope of Calvar}^, but in ever}^ experience He kept 
the one end in view. At what cost the world will 
never know, but there was a straight path from 
Bethlehem to heaven, and He walked in it with un- 
faltering step. His doctrine was comprised in love 
toward and confidence in God at all times and under 
all circumstances, and His one demand of us is that 
we shall " go and do likewise." 

If a man does the works of Christ he will be with 
Him in the hereafter. There will be no other place 
than heaven in which to assign him a residence. 
If He told us to judge our fellows by their fruits, 
then it is logical to suppose that He will judge us by 
the same standard. Christ cannot have one cri- 

4 



50 MAKING the; most OF I,IFE 

terion in this world and another criterion in any- 
other world. This simplifies the Gospel and makes 
everything plain. There may be metaphysical prob- 
lems which I cannot understand, and if so I shall 
not be held accountable for refusing to accept them, 
but the marvellous teachings of the Master as to my 
conduct of life are all within the reach of my com- 
prehension, and if I obey them and do the best I can 
with what comes to me I shall cross the threshold 
without a tremor, admitting my unworthiness, but 
sure of my great reward. 

I must be true to myself and to my fellow man, 
and then I shall be true to God. I must be honest 
even when honesty requires a sacrifice, and when 
the temptation is wildly stimulating, because in the 
long run honesty ennobles and dishonesty degrades. 
The world is made that way, and it is safer to obey 
than defy the law. 

Kvery man should think for himself on this sub- 
ject, but as for me, the quality of my mind is such that 
I minimize the value of mere doctrine as an element 
of salvation, and lay great stress, possibly too great, 
on the worth of a life which is noble, pure, and self- 
sacrificing. I have no quarrel with the Catholics, 



NOBI,E LIVING 51 

who delight in a rich and impressive form of wor- 
ship, nor with the various Protestant sects which lay 
so much stress on creed. If ceremonies are helpful 
to you and you are at home under their sweet influ- 
ence, by all means join the Church which offers 
them in rare abundance. If dogma furnishes you 
with an agreeable shelter, by all means go to the 
Church which satisfies your mental craving. God 
has made us to look on life from different stand- 
points, so let each man take his position where he 
will and look toward God and the Christ in his own 
way. If any man has a faith which satisfies him, I 
would not change it to my own faith for worlds. 

But there are untold millions outside of all 
churches. They cannot accept all that is taught, 
but they hunger for something to cling to for life 
and death. To these I present the simplicity of 
Christ. I tell them that the Gospels contain the se- 
cret of usefulness, of a comforting conscience; that 
the religion of honesty, of purity, of charity, and 
love is the religion which the Master taught, and 
is the only basis, absolutely the only basis, on 
which to build a worthy character. I am sure that 
the whole world wants to believe more than it now 



52 MAKING THK MOST OF LIFK 

sees its way clear to accept, and if I can lift a single 
one out of his despair and stand him on the Sermon 
on the Mount, make him a moral man, he will soon 
grow to be a noble man, and I have perfect con- 
fidence that the Christ will bless him. He who 
loves honor and integrit}^ will find himself at the 
feet of Him who declared that love of God and man 
is the prime law of a true religion. 



A LARGER FAITH 

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. — 
St. John xiv., 27. 

'T^HK essence of religion is always the same, but 
* theology is subject to constant change. 

Honest}^, fidelity, kindliness, and love are to-day 
just what they were to the newly born souls in the 
Garden of Eden; and resignation, self-sacrifice, faith 
in God are just what they were in the Garden of 
Gethsemane. Time has not altered their complexion, 
neither has it decreased our appreciation of them, 
They are the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 
Human hearts are what they have always been, but 
human minds are constantly passing from lower to 
higher levels of truth, climbing the spiral staircase 
of greater knowledge, and looking out on a wider 
horizon. 

In nothing is this made more clear than in the 
soul's relation to God. Our fathers feared Him, 

but we have learned to love Him. They trembled 

53 



54 MAKING THE MOST OF I^IFK 

in His presence, while we rejoice. Their religion 
was like a sky filled with thunder-heads, every now 
and then a flash of forked lightning shaking the 
earth with its menace, awful in grandeur, magnifi- 
cent as an exhibition of power, but rousing a fear 
for the present and the future which deadened affec- 
tion. There was a dirge-like element in it which 
was strangely unattractive. 

We admire our fathers for their sterling and stern 
qualities of character, but it would be impossible for 
us to kneel by their side and worship the God they 
so reverently adored. Time has wrought beneficent 
changes in our spiritual outlook, and what we be- 
lieve is incomparably more inspiring than anything 
their theology could furnish. There is something 
more friendly, more fatherly, more motherly in our 
conception of Deity, and therefore it is nearer to 
the truth. 

There are two matters in which we have made a 
decided advance. We have changed the doctrine of 
total depravity into a belief in our sonship with God. 
No funeral procession ever moved more willingly to 
the cemetery where lie our buried errors than we did 
when we paid our last respects to that dogma. The 



A LARGER FAITH 55 

world was frightened by it while it reigned, and one 
dared not look toward heaven without expecting to 
hear the thunders of gloomy Sinai. We were sim- 
ply a multitude of shipwrecked mariners, whose only 
deserts were to sink beneath the waves. But light 
came. The Gospel broke through the clouds on a 
second reading and shone with inspiring effulgence. 
Children and heirs! I^oved of the Father with a 
love not to be expressed! We woke to a new life. 
Fear fled, and we were drawn upward with a strange 
feeling that God's invisible hand was downstretched 
to lift us over our sorrows and sins into penitence 
and holiness. The heavens were filled with music, 
and we began the upward march with joy in our 
hearts. Love flooded the world and wrought a 
miracle of development and growth. Religion be- 
came a perpetual peace and hope and trust, for a 
year of love will do more for the soul than a cycle 
of fear. The earth blossomed anew, and as the 
Christ cried, "Let there be light!" we bent in a 
reverent worship never known before. The Bible 
has become a fresh revelation, and the universal 
heart is warmed to good deeds and noble endeavor 
by the consciousness that the Father wants us and 



56 MAKING tHE MOST OF LIFE 

we must find our way to the home which awaits 
us. 

And the second change in our thoughts is our 
conception of the other life. The picturesque and 
spectacular in the old theology have given way to 
an immortality which robs death of its black gar- 
ments and gives it a white robe instead. The harps 
in the early picture have disappeared, and we look 
forward to a life of activity; a life in which our 
affections are left intact; a life so close to God that 
we shall grow as the wheat grows in the sunshine 
and dew, and so close to earth that along the well- 
trodden highway we may bring back the sweet in- 
fluences of the upper world to bless this one withal. 
There is no high barrier whose gates are bolted, but 
an open door through which the thoughts of the 
living may travel upward, and through which the 
glories of the other life may come to flood our human 
households with helpfulness. 

These beliefs are golden. They are priceless. 
We live anew, we breathe a purer air, and enjoy a 
larger faith. Our vision takes a wider view, as one 
who climbs from the narrow vallej' to the mountain- 
top. Religion becomes a diviner reality than ever. 



A LARGER FAITH 57 

It is easier to bear with resignation the ills of the 
flesh, for the spirit is unconfined, and soars in its 
sorrow to the source of all strength and wisdom. 
The Father was never so near to His children as 
now, and life was never so radiant or so glorious. 
We have at last looked into the face of the risen 
Lord, and read His word with lips that have been 
touched by angel fingers. We can do our work 
with good cheer, can bow in deeper reverence, and 
bear with patience, for voices are calling us which 
we have never heard before, and beyond the tomb is 
the light of another and a brighter day. 



STRONG IN THE I.ORD 

O man greatly beloved, fear not ; peace be unto thee ; be 
strong, yea, be strong. — Daniel x., 19. 

OUPPOSK we spend a few moments in a careful 
^^ examination of your life, just as we would 
examine a watch that does not work quite well. 

My life or any one's else would serve the purpose 
just as well, for human nature is the same the wide 
world over. Any one unit is like all the other units 
in the vast aggregate, but your personal life has a 
large interest for you, and it may do us all good to 
take a quiet but critical look at it. If we can dis- 
cover what the matter is, we may perhaps learn how 
to take the hair out of the watch. 

You are disappointed in yourself. Who is not? 
You have achieved so much less than you hoped to 
do, and your qualities of character are so different 
from what they might be, that you are rather discon- 
solate. Again, who of us is not in the same state of 

mind from the same causes ? 

58 



STRONG IN THK I.ORD 59 

Now, let me lay down a general principle, for that 
may clear the way to an investigation which will 
produce a remedy, as an apple blossom produces an 
apple. 

People who are learned in psychology tell us that 
a condition of mind results in a condition of body. 
Some emotions will even produce disease, and others 
are conducive of health. Your thoughts will pro- 
duce a chemical change in your physical system. 
Some thoughts will act on the nerve centres in such 
a way as to make you strong, while others will 
make you weak. The man who is submerged in 
despair is like a man submerged in water — he is 
drowning. He who, on the contrary, is buoyant 
and hopeful can work hard and enjoy it. You must 
be careful, therefore, about the kind of thoughts you 
entertain, because thoughts may be either poisonous 
or nutritive. 

Now, then, what are your dominant thoughts? 
That is the all-important question. Do you believe 
that you can make a great deal out of your life if 
you know how to handle it, or do you rather feel 
that there is not raw material enough in your sur- 
roundings to make a strong character or success ? 



6o MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFE 

Is God a dreamy myth, a cloudy nothing which 
you have inherited, and on which you have never 
placed much value, or is He a spiritually tangible 
presence, to be daily consulted and trusted as j^ou 
trust and consult your best friend ? 

If the former, we have made a sad discovery — 
namely, that you have no religious faith at all and 
you have been deceiving yourself all your lifetime. 
You may go to church or be a church member, but 
the plain truth is that your religion is simply an 
opiate to dull your pains in the experiences of life, 
whereas it ought to be the sunshine on flowers, the 
dew or shower on the wheat-field. 

You are like a ship sailing in a dense fog. Your 
compass is broken, and there are shoals all about 
you. I think the difference between a genuine faith 
and a make-believe faith in its effect on your ability 
to cope with hardship is the difference between the 
heart of a giant and that of a child. 

If Christ could have entertained a doubt of His 
Father's love and wisdom He never would have 
gone through Gethsemane or the agony of the cross. 
A simple drop of that kind of poison and we should 
never have had a Christian Church. 



STRONG IN THE LORD 6l 

Your life is a sacred possession, and all its experi- 
ences, it matters not what they are, can be made to 
contribute to a noble character. It is hard to believe 
this at times, but it is true, and you will become 
your grander self the moment you recognize that 
fact. 

Take your lot in life as a means of spiritual de- 
velopment, and you will soon find yourself growing 
in grace. Do not allow events, however difi&cult to 
bear or to manage, to sour your soul, for acidity is 
weakness, and sweetness is strength. 

Never worry if it can possibly be helped, for worry 
means degeneration. Keep yourself calm and re- 
poseful, for God is not only overhead, but in your 
daily work, though it be daily drudgery. 

If there is trouble in your home and you feel ham- 
pered and fettered, like a bird whose wings have 
been cut, simply try to get out of your narrow life 
all it is capable of yielding. Things may not seem 
to be all right now, but they certainly will be all 
right by and by. 

I know that I am telling you about a very hard 
truth, but in spite of its hardness it is the truth. 
If things are bad, they are made worse by brooding 



62 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

over them, and they can be made better by facing 
them in the proper spirit. 

In my opinion that is religion. That is what the 
Christ came to teach us. He was quiet, and so can 
we be. I do not ask you to be wholly contented, 
because there are longings in the soul which cannot 
be repressed, and I am not sure that it would be well 
to repress them; but I ask you to be strong. Keep 
your dreams and find happiness in them, but live 
your life bravely, grandly, nobly. Live it as a great, 
an immortal soul should live it, trusting in that 
hand which rules the universe and in that Lord who 
notes the sparrow's fall. 

In good time, on the other shore, you shall have 
your heart's desire, and it will be your blessed privi- 
lege to know that you have earned a right to it by 
patience and calm, unmurmuring, and heroic en- 
durance. 



A SIMPLE FAITH 

Ye believe in God, believe also in me. — St. John xiv., i. 

WHAT is absolutely essential in religion, so far 
as doctrine is concerned, is very little and 
very simple. The Church has for a long time had a 
strange notion that in order to be saved a man must 
believe a long list of dogmas, whereas the only con- 
dition imposed by the Christ is that a man shall have 
a heart and a life full of a love which lifts some one's 
burden whenever the chance occurs, and seek the 
strength to do it from Him who is Father to all 
alike. 

There is this difference between what is called * * a 
body of doctrine ' ' and a spiritual principle, namely, 
that not everybody can either understand or accept 
the doctrine, while no man is so unlettered or so 
obtuse that he need fail to do what is right because 
he is in doubt about it. The road to heaven is not 

a tangled maze of statement about Christ or God, 

63 



64 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

but a straight and open path from the trusting hu- 
man heart to the immortal life, a path in which the 
little child and the grave philosopher may hand in 
hand wend their way with equal pleasure and profit. 

You need corner-stones if you erect a building, and 
for a like reason you need certain beliefs if you make 
for yourself a character. Faith in a God who will 
never desert you stands first. It must be an un- 
flinching faith, however, or it will give way in the 
time of emergency. You begin well when j^ou begin 
with that, and you begin ill if you begin in any 
other fashion. 

I have a queer suspicion that the general faith in 
the abilitj'' or willingness of God to see us safely 
through all earthly experience is clouded by more 
or less doubt. It is a matter which we keep to our- 
selves, but deep down in the heart is a wonder 
whether this beautiful something which we call re- 
ligion can be relied upon as firmly, for instance, as 
the sea captain relies on his compass in a storm. 
Hence the despair which we find when death comes 
into the house, and hence our weakness when a bold 
and insolent temptation assails us. We are not 
thoroughl^^ convinced, and, though we hope that 



A SIMPI.K FAITH 65 

God is there and does hear us when we cry, we 
have a doubt which seizes us like a sudden throb 
of agony. 

That is not religion; it is only the simulation of 
it. It is a staff of willow, not a staff of oak. It 
serves in good weather, but in the tempest it fails 
us. When Davy invented his wire- gauze lamp as a 
protection against the explosive fire^-damp in mines 
the workmen looked at it and shook their heads. 
It was too simple to be worth much. But Davy had 
faith in his lamp. He lighted the candle, went into 
the bowels of the earth, sought the spot where fire- 
damp lay in ambush, and exposed himself to the 
danger. He had not only a theory, but a conviction. 
He would trust his life to it. No test could be too 
severe. He felt absolutely safe with that lantern in 
his hand. That is the kind of faith we want if our 
lives are to become heroic. And when we are pos- 
sessed of it we have something else besides. Faith 
in God produces faith that our earthly experiences 
are our discipline and our preparation. The moment 
you see God as your Father duty becomes not only 
clear and distinct, but easj^ Alone you can bear 

but little, but with the infinite reservoir of power 
5 



66 MAKING THK MOST OF LIFE 

and love to draw from you are equal to whatever 
your position may be. If God is with you, then the 
angels who do His bidding will be your companions. 
You become one of the great family and will be 
consciously helped by unseen hands over the rough 
places. And this consciousness will grow clearer as 
your faith increases, until in the end there will be 
only a thin veil between you and the other world. 
You will live in the friendship of the departed as 
you live in that of the dear ones in your household. 
The Christ realized this, but we are yet dull of hear- 
ing and dim of sight. 

Immortality will become not a vague hope or even 
a reasonable belief, but a demonstrable certainty, 
and 3^ou will live in the two worlds at the same 
time. Your last hour will find you with a smile 
on your lips and a great gladness in your heart. 
You will eagerly step out of a tired body to be 
welcomed by those who aw^ait your coming. 

That is the kind of religion which men long for, 
and which they will have when they wake up from 
this half-belief and this make-believe to a realization 
of the glorious truth. It was Christ's religion, and 
it is our own fault if w^e do not make it ours. 



GOD OUR STRENGTH 

I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my counte- 
nance and my God. — Psalms xliii., 5. 

THE central thought of religion is the continual 
presence of God in the soul, and therefore the 
moral compulsion of the soul to be godlike. 

We are not members of God's family by adoption, 
but by right of birth, and duty consists in bearing 
ourselves as such. The ideal man, when he arrives, 
will be so proud of his relation to the universe and 
prize it so highly that low thinking and low acting 
will become impossible. His genealogy will be so 
impressive that it will influence his motives, his 
entire outlook on life, and shape his character after 
the model of his divine ancestry. 

We have temporarily fallen away from any hope 

of reaching this high estate, and wandered into all 

sorts of evils and diseases, for disease is the natural 

and logical result of moral obliquity. If the race 

had persistently maintained its obedience to law it 

67 



68 MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFE 

would be as healthy in body as sound in mind. The 
ailments of the body, which consume so much of our 
patience and time, are all abnormal. They have 
their origin either in wilfulness or ignorance; and 
if knowledge were substituted for ignorance, and 
obedience to law were substituted for wilfulness, the 
remedial effect would be such that in a few genera- 
tions we should be as whole and healthy as was 
Adam in the Garden of Bden. 

The Christ was physically perfect, and it is in- 
conceivable that He should have been otherwise. 
We find it impossible to associate disease with the 
thought of Him. He was not only whole and hale 
Himself, but He imparted wholeness to others, and, 
when questioned on the matter, simply replied: 
"Thy faith hath made thee whole." When from 
this single utterance we weave a philosophy of life 
it becomes clear that if we start in good physical 
condition and keep ourselves mentally and spiritually 
in harmony with God's plan we shall remain in that 
condition all our days and die of old age as quietly 
as a child goes to sleep in its mother's arms. 

That God ordained disease is not to be thought of. 
Heaven is a place of health, and earth not only 



GOD OUR STRENGTH 69 

ouglit to be, but will be, wben our lives are ** hid 
with Christ in God." That is the great requisite, 
and until that consummation is reached our suffering 
must needs continue to warn us that ' * out of har- 
mony " means " out of health.** 

Worrj^, for example, disturbs all the functions of 
the body. Constant anxiety is the mental cause of 
a physical effect. Happiness and a fretful temper, 
a sweet contentment and the habit of continual fault- 
finding, serenity of heart and a persistent critical 
mood can no more mingle than oil and water. They 
are foreign to each other and will not live in the 
same house. You cannot have both, and must, 
therefore, make your choice. 

The Christ had a daily life full of impediments to 
spiritual growth. He endured hardships, neglect, 
disloyalty, and suspicion. But His mind was with 
God. He lived in the upper world, in communion 
with the hosts of heaven, and all such trials were 
trivial and petty. They could not conquer Him as 
they conquer us, for His heart was right, while ours 
is wrong. He did God's will and found therein a 
divine satisfaction, while we insist on having our 
own way and so make ourselves miserable. 



yo MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

The ills of life are doubly burdensome when we 
brood over them. The joys of life are blurred by 
the shadow of anxiety which we throw upon them. 
If we could be made to believe that God knows how 
to rule the universe and would quietly live from day 
to day, refusing to suffer from the sorrows we antici- 
pate, many of which never arrive and nearly all of 
which we exaggerate, our pulses would beat more 
regularly, the clouds would have a silver lining, 
and the sunshine would be more genial. We make 
things harder to bear by dwelling on their hardness. 

I do not say there are no sorrows, no sighs, or 
tears, but I do say there is a God. I know we are 
sometimes worn and wearj^ but a Common-sense re- 
ligion puts all the cheerfulness into life it will hold, 
and the heart that trusts is better fitted to do good 
work than the heart that doubts. Struggle is 
robbed of its sting when we have the companionship 
of angels and know that unseen hands are lifting us 
over the rough places. 

There is nothing under the stars so helpful, so 
encouraging, so healthful, as a religion which tells 
us that we are in the Father's keeping, and that we 
are travelling a rough road toward an eternal home. 



THE BEAUTY OF THE HEART 

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. — 

Psalms xc, 17. 

WE are all lovers of the beautiful, sometimes 
consciously and sometimes unconsciously. 
A magnificent landscape is always impressive, and 
I have known persons to talk in whispers, without 
knowing that they did so, while looking at it. It is 
said of the Swiss that they are of a melancholy tem- 
perament because the huge mountains amid which 
they live are too much for them. They are, as it 
were, hypnotized by them, and strange influences 
steal into their souls. 

There is another kind of beauty which kindles 
our enthusiasm — the beauty of a human face. But 
there is this difference between nature and human 
nature, namely, that the beauty of the one is the 
work of God, while that of the other is the work of 

man. Real beauty of countenance does not consist 

71 



72 MAKING THE MOST OF t,lT^ 

in regularity of outline, but in expression, and is 
therefore dependent on character. 

It would be impossible, for example, to picture 
the Christ as other than attractive in feature. To 
depict Him with a countenance which indicated 
selfishness or cunning would be an insult to the law 
that never allows an ignoble expression to symbolize 
a noble heart and life. The face of Christ is the 
despair of artists because it is diflScult to paint a 
portrait in which a child's gentleness is conjoined 
with a giant's strength. The face of Napoleon or 
Caesar or Peter or Paul can be shown on canvas, but 
the painter's brush that tries to portray a face at 
once tender and stern, pitiful and scornful, woman- 
like on one side and heroic on the other, will find its 
task an impossible one. Christ's face, therefore, is 
for our dreams but not for our colors. We can con- 
ceive of it, but it cannot be represented. 

It is not feature or contour or complexion which 
constitutes beauty. It is transfiguration. At the 
first look at a man's face we receive an impulsive 
impression. At the second look we get a glimpse 
of his attributes, his peculiarities, his inner self, and 
it is this second look which decides whether the man 



THE BEAUTY OF THE HEART 73 

is good- or ill-looking. The woman who resorts to 
cosmetics is simply trying to pass a counterfeit bill, 
and will sooner or later be found out; but she 
who trusts to her good will for all, her sympathy 
for suffering, her general kindliness, has her hand 
full of gold coins which everybody wants and 
appreciates. 

If we look at others with love in our eyes our love 
is so transforming that our face must needs seem 
beautiful. When a sailor passes a lighthouse on a 
stormy night he sees the light and thanks God for it. 
The blazing lamp covers up any defect in the struc- 
ture of the building. He knows nothing, sees 
nothing except that light. In like manner there is 
a radiance in the human face when the heart has 
communed with heavenly things which makes us 
forget such unimportant details as complexion and 
hair and features. We ignore the lighthouse struc- 
ture and see only the light. It is not so much 
architecture as character which takes hold upon us. 
It is possible to be repelled by the person who has an 
artistically perfect face, but who on closer inspection 
wears lines of selfishness or petulance or cruelty, and 
it is easy to think a face beautiful, though it may be 



74 MAKING THE MOST OF I.IFB 

artistically commonplace, if behind it shines a loving, 
charitable, gentle, and sympathetic soul. 

All this is preliminary to the lesson I have in view. 
I repeat, therefore, that while the beauty of nature is 
the work of God the beauty of human nature is under 
our own control. I declare that if you are not attrac- 
tive to your friends it is very largely your own fault. 
If a man hates you he may have sufficient reason for 
that attitude, and if he loves and admires you it is be- 
cause you have made yourself lovable and admirable. 

The law is that what is in your soul will find its 
way into your countenance. This law acts as the 
chisel of the sculptor on the marble; it makes lines, 
removes them, and changes them. If you were a 
magician and could place a man or woman amid 
adverse surroundings, where tears and struggles 
were the only company kept, you would find the 
personal history after a while in the face, and should 
you remove that man or woman to a happy envir- 
onment, without care or anxiety, a corresponding 
change in the physical lines of the face would occur. 

Again, if a person indulges in base thoughts, is 
fretiul, selfish, and mean, nature advertises that fact 
in the countenance. And if, on the contrary, the 



THK BEAUTY OF THE HEART 75 

heart is pure, the faith strong, the resignation under 
suflfering what it should be, there is a distinct and 
palpable transfiguration, a difference in the magnetic 
atmosphere, or what some call the aura, of that per- 
son. That law is creative and inexorable. Give the 
earth sunshine and it is attractive, but give it light- 
nings and earthquakes, and it is awful to look upon. 

Religion, therefore, or the lack of it, lies at the 
bottom of it all. To see things as the Christ saw 
them; to have in the heart only sweet thoughts; to 
feel that the arms of the Father are bearing you up 
and that the angels are round about you; that earth 
may have its heav}^ sorrows, but heaven is straight 
ahead and not far off; to make the best of trouble in- 
stead of brooding over it; to find as many happy hours 
as there are within reach, and to be as nearly content 
as the circumstances allow — is it possible to follow 
such a policy, to possess that kind of religion, and not 
be loved as a beautiful, a radiant, an attractive soul ? 

Religion covers the whole of life and is the only 
sure remedial agency. If the world were Christlike 
we should be healthy in body, should live to a ripe 
old age without ache or pain, and be glad to die even 
as one is glad to get home after a toilsome journey. 



THE BREVITY OF I,IFE 

As for man, his days are as grass. — Psalms ciii., 15. 

T 1^ 7"HEN you consider the matter seriously, you 
^ ^ are startled at the brevity of our human 
life. Subtract the years that are spent in childhood 
and early youth before either the physical or mental 
system is equipped for its struggle, and subtract still 
further that mysterious third of our term which is 
spent in sweet sleep and pleasant dreams, and there 
are but a couple of score of summers and winters be- 
tween the cradle and the tomb. 

One listens to the chimes that beckon to the ideal, 
and while listening they become a mere echo which 
loses itself in eternity. God has set us the task of 
writing a symphony, but there is only time to write 
the motif and possibly to hum a few airs when the 
eyes grow dull and we fall asleep, leaving our glad 
task unfinished. As Solomon said, ''The same 

thing happeneth to us all." 

76 



THE BREVITY OF LIFE 77 

What is the thing that happens to us all? On 
the answer to this question depends our outlook. 
If the decision of heart and mind is favorable, it is 
like putting the watch-spring into the watch and 
winding it up. It is like telling the traveller to 
enjoy the scenery as best he can, but assuring him 
that there are far higher mountains and wider land- 
scapes beyond. It is like telling the musician to 
hearken to the organ peal in the cathedral, but as- 
suring him that when he hears the angel chorus sing, 
and kneels in the larger Temple, he will be filled 
with emotions which in comparison with these are 
but the throbs of a longing and unsatisfied heart. 
On the contrary, if the decision is unfavorable, our 
human life is a useless and a needless struggle with 
adversity. We are the slaves of a bitter fate, and 
our taskmaster swings his lacerating thong with 
something that resembles vengeance. Our years are 
prolonged misery, with the deep shadow of annihila- 
tion hanging above it like a storm-cloud filled with 
fiery bolts. The raven perches above our chamber 
door and croaks its song of " Nevermore! " The 
pulse falls below its normal beat, and health, moral 
and physical, is impossible. The sun mocks us by 



78 MAKING THK MOST OF I.IFK 

day and the moon by night. We must needs love, 
for the soul cannot live without it, but the long 
corridor of our being is haunted with ghosts, and the 
air vibrates to the tearful word " farewell." Love 
becomes only an incentive to weep, for the joys of 
love are but the precursor of an eternal shadow. 

I am convinced that if this life is all it was a grave 
mistake to bestow it. It is my impression that 
nearly all thoughtful men and women agree with 
me. Life is made up of alternate smiles and tears. 
Our happiness resembles the scattered moments of 
sunshine on a cloudy day. And what do these 
tears and smiles amount to if they are all there is 
for us in the treasury of God and all He intends to 
apportion to us ? The ordinary life, the average life, 
has more weeds in it than flowers. From the time 
the eyes open to an intelligent view up to the hour 
when our friends gather to whisper ' ' He is dead, ' ' 
we wrestle with circumstance, breaking forth into 
laughter at one moment and the next shivering in 
the presence of a misfortune; disturbed by inhar- 
monious surroundings, and trying bravely to make 
the best of them, at the end wondering what it all 
means, or if it means anything. If there is no more, 



THE BREVITY OF LIFE 79 

— if the stor>^ is to be finished before it is half told, 
and just as we have become interested in it, if our 
sweetest relations to each other are honej^ to-day 
and will be wormwood to-morrow, — then I dare to 
say that our seventj^ years are not profitable, are 
not worth the having. Better never be at all than 
only be what we are now. In no wide or generous 
sense does it pay to be alive. Why should you 
sacrifice for the maintenance of your integrity — why 
light the lamp of conscience and keep the wick 
trimmed through the dreary night, if there is no 
morning? Why not drift carelessly whither the 
current may take us? All this paintaking is in 
vain. It is like hoarding gold and being despoiled 
of it b}^ the robber Death. It is tr5'ing to be a hale 
and hearty man when even manhood is a mere 
chimera. 

But let some angel guide you to a different van- 
tage-ground of observation. Let him draw aside the 
curtain of time and give you a glimpse of eternity. 
Let him touch 3^our blind eyes, as the Saviour 
touched the eyes of the peasant, and bid j^ou look 
at the things which no heart hath yet conceived. 
There stretches the road you are to travel, and it 



8o MAKING TH:E most OF I,IFK 

leads through the churchyard and is lost in the 
glories of the distant horizon. You cannot see the 
end, for there is none. A new life in a new environ- 
ment is to be yours, and in that other life you shall 
be your nobler, grander self if you lay the founda- 
tions for it in the character that is to be fashioned 
by these smiles and tears, which no longer seem 
insignificant. 

Far, far away in the dazzling distance you see the 
loom of that house of which the Scriptures tell us, 
the resting-place of weary souls, bej^ond whose 
threshold there is a peace that passeth understand- 
ing. It is a house in which the cruel grasp of earth 
is loosed, by whose doors no hearse ever rumbles 
and under whose roof 5'ou will have the opportuni- 
ties which have been heretofore denied. 

Look again. There are the lost but still loved, — 
the dear ones, whose voices were long since hushed, 
— and they long for reunion even as you do. In 
heaven you and they will once more embrace. 

With such a prospect, does life pay ? Is it worth 
while to struggle and be patient, to mourn and be 
resigned? What are these tears and smiles and 
struggles but stepping-stones, up which j^ou climb 



THE BREVITY OF LIFE 8 1 

with difficulty, but with a heart of hope and faith 
and gladness? The storms may lower; they are 
nothing. We may have a painful allotment of for- 
tune; it is nothing. We may even follow our dear 
ones to the grave; it is nothing. Heaven is close at 
hand, and this lower life is a glorious life, because, 
like the turbulent river, it flows into eternity. 



OUR PERSONAI, POSSESSIONS 

For all things are yours. Whether the world, or life, or 
death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours. — 
I Corinthians iii., 21, 22. 

npHIS text puzzled me for many years. That it 

* was a statement of fact I had no doubt, for I 

regarded St. Paul as a scholar and a philosopher as 

well as an inspired teacher. And yet I was only too 

conscious that I had no personal sense of possession, 

but, on the contrary, was oppressed by my poverty 

of body, mind, and spirit. If all things were mine, 

in what way could I establish my claim to them and 

enter into the enjoyment of them ? 

The question was solved in the most unexpected 

way. On an August evening I was sitting under 

a tree by a country roadside in company with a 

thoughtful man and his little family. The sky was 

cloudless after a sultry day, and the breeze made an 

^olian harp of the branches overhead. We listened 

to its music in silence for a while, and then my 

82 



OUR PERSONAL POSSESSIONS 83 

friend, who was an ordinary workman, but whose 
soul had discovered many a secret, preached a ser- 
mon which I shall now repeat to you. 

"I am one of the richest men in the world," he 
said, ''and my wealth is so abundant that I cannot 
possibly make full use of it. My one debt is a debt 
of gratitude to God, and I can neither pay it here 
nor hereafter." Then, after a moment, he added, 
" I am the rightful owner of the whole universe. 

* ' lyOok at that broad landscape stretching for many 
a mile to the horizon; that valley which has been 
fashioned after millions of years of patient work and 
is now bearing a rich harvest in its embrace; that 
rivulet which babbles close at hand, singing its Te 
Deum through the long days and nights; that 
wooded mountain which stands like a giant holding 
up the sky — these are all mine. I gaze at my large 
possessions in rapturous worship; they are the 
temple in which I pray; they are the altar at which 
I kneel and ask pardon for duties left undone. My 
Father built this temple for me; for you also, but 
your right to it does not interfere with mine, nor 
mine with yours. We need engage in no litigation 
to decide which has the better claim. Some one 



84 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFK 

thinks this land is his and his deed is in the regis- 
trar's ofl&ce, but he is mistaken, for it is ours as well 
as his, and the enjoyment of it is for any one who 
has the capacity of appreciation. 

' ' And see the stars coming out in their rich splen- 
dor one by one as the daylight fades. They also are 
mine; they shine on me and for me. They tell me 
strange stories of infinite space, infinite power, in- 
finite love. ' The heavens declare the glory of God, 
and the firmament showeth His handiwork,' and 
firmament, heavens, and God are all mine. 

*' Look at wife and children, also, playing with 
pebbles or sleeping on the mother's bosom. He has 
given them to me that I may have a home on earth 
which will tell me something about the home above. 
The affection which binds us into a family bundle, the 
responsibilities of parentage, the dreams which come 
to me of my boy's future, are from His hand, are His 
gift. Can I be too thankful for such bounty, and 
when I have so much can I ask for more ? I come 
home from my daily toil, and the kiss on my cheek, 
the pressure of the little arms about my neck are 
my evening benediction. I am more than contented ; 
I am oppressed with the weight of my blessings. 



OUR PKRSONAL POSSESSIONS 85 

" But that is not all. There is more, so much more 
that there is not time to tell it. Christ is mine, and 
His religion is mine. The New Testament was 
written for me, and it is a possession of which no 
man can rob me. My house may burn, my crops 
may fail, my savings may be stolen, but the good 
cheer of Christ is always secure. The love of the 
Father, which He has revealed, is a great reservoir 
of strength from which I draw in all the emergencies 
of life. My whole being is illumined by thoughts 
which had to be told me by this Messenger from 
above, for I could never have discovered them of 
myself. They are my sunshne, my moonlight, my 
starlight. 

" Yes, and best of all, heaven is mine when life has 
no more work for me to do. The day that is done 
is the prophecy of another day to come, and the life 
that is spent assures us of another life about to be- 
gin . My youngest child left us in the winter. We 
mourned, for it is hard to part with such gifts of 
God. But my heaven was his also. He went into 
no strange country; he only went home. We shall 
see him again. I sometimes think I can hear his 
voice even now, and the pattering of his little feet. 



86 MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFK 

and when the shadows fall for us, who are getting 
old, he will be on the threshold to bid us welcome. ' ' 
My friend was right. He was one of the rich men 
of the earth. His wealth was not in coin, but in 
a faith which coin could not buy. My puzzle was 
solved, and I know what the text means. If God 
is our God and we can call upon Him in our dail)^ 
need; if Christ and His revelations are all for us and 
we have a right to appropriate them to our personal 
use; if we are in such frame of mind that the beauties 
of the physical universe belong to us to enjoy them 
to the utmost limit of our capacity; if heaven is ours 
and we can look forward, not with hope merely, but 
with certainty, to a reunion with the beloved, we 
have riches beyond the compass of thought, and we 
may well be happy and strong and faithful. Bear 
bravely, for God is above you. 



SORROWS AND TROUBLES 
For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. — Hebrews xii., 6. 

PERHAPS the most serious question in con- 
nection with the spiritual life is this: Why- 
are there so many troubles and sorrows in the road 
to heaven ? 

No thoughtful soul ever bowed under an afiliction 
without wondering why the Lord thought it best to 
make suffering so large a part of our experience. 
He could have arranged matters very differently if 
He had wished to do so, but He chose to have them 
as they are. There must therefore be a very im- 
portant significance in our burden-bearing, but what 
is it? We may be perfectly resigned to His will, 
and may believe, without the shadow of a doubt, 
that wrenching griefs and heart struggles are all 
right, but we cannot suppress the query. Why are 
they all right ? To the mere onlooker from another 

planet the situation would be interesting, curious, 

87 



88 MAKING THE MOST OF I.IFE 

and painful. He would see men wrestling with 
the most perverse circumstances, and apparently con- 
quered by them, and women weeping over sorrows 
too deep for sympathy to reach. To him this would 
be the oddest of all worlds, administered on a plan 
which he might find it difficult to understand. 

But it seems to me possible to get a glimpse of the 
meaning of it all, to so far comprehend it that we 
are able to say, perhaps in feeble accent, " Thy will, 
not mine, be done." If it is possible to do that we 
shall be greatly comforted and our power of en- 
durance will be largely increased. 

The golden key to the mystery is found in the 
apparently cruel statement made in the Book of 
Revelation: ** As many as I love I rebuke and 
chasten." The Lord is our Father, and if you are a 
parent you will readily see what is meant. If you 
are indifferent to the welfare of your children, caring 
more for your own pleasure than for their good, you 
will allow them a very large license, let them go 
their own way, even though it be the wrong way. 
But if you have the true parental heart and wish to 
insure for the dear ones that integrity and sturdiness 
which are necessary to a noble character you will 



SORROWS AND TROUBLES 89 

not only watch over them with solicitude during 
the formative period, but you will rebuke them, and 
even sternly deny them certain undesirable gratifica- 
tions. You chasten them in order to make them 
chaste or pure, for that is the meaning of the word. 
To chasten is to purify by discipline. If it be true 
that to be pure or perfect is the chief end to be 
sought, and if it be true that if left to our own im- 
pulses or passions we should never become pure, but 
that by discipline we may become so, then God would 
either cease to love us or else cease to be good unless 
He allotted such pains and griefs as would make the 
soul stronger by its endurance of them. It tday 
seem a strange thing to say, but it is true, that God 
would not be a father if He failed in that sharp dis- 
cipline which in this life causes regret, but will some 
time prove itself to have been a blessing in disguise. 
I suppose that the bar of gold which is placed in 
the smelting-pot may be very unhappy for a time. 
It does not know very much about the worthless and 
debasing alloy which is mingled with its very sub- 
stance, and it therefore cries out against the cruelty 
of the fire which heats it to the melting-point. But 
the goldsmith loves his gold too much to heed its 



go MAKING THK MOST OF LIFE 

cries. The fire is the chastening element, and he 
plies the bellows with a rugged strength. But when 
the end comes and the pure metal has been separated 
from the alloy, will it not be seen that a hot fire, a 
consuming flame, is proof of the goldsmith's skill 
and wisdom and love ? 

If the ingot of gold, not quite understanding 
the process of purification, could have had a perfect 
faith in the goldsmith it would have suffered less 
during the ordeal of fire. In like manner, if we 
could believe that our sufferings have a grand 
mission to achieve, that they are under the guiding 
hand of the Master of our souls, it would largely 
alter our attitude toward them and also toward Him 
who has ordained them. To weep without hope or 
trust is to break your heart. Even though you can- 
not see the meaning of a grief, if you believe there 
is one, and that He sees it, you can summon your 
best strength, and you can be brave. But what of 
that man who neither sees any light in the dark- 
ness nor believes that there is any ? A tempest with 
home in sight is one thing ; a tempest with no 
resting place to look forward to — could any fate 
be harder than that or any condition more pitiful ? 



SORROWS AND TROUBLES QI 

Whatever else may be said of our religion this one 
thing at least is true — that it gives good cheer when 
good cheer is most needed. In your direst strivings, 
when you are like to fall by the wayside weary and 
worn, you may see the shadowy form of the Christ 
beneath the branches of the olive tree. He is rent 
and torn by unspeakable anguish, but is whispering 
to the unseen messengers, who will carry the words 
to the Father, ** Not my will, but Thine, be done." 
He went from under the overhanging clouds to the 
better land, and if our wildly beating hearts will 
listen we can hear Him saying: ** Let not your heart 
be troubled. I go to prepare a place for j^ou." 

A few more months, a few more years, and the 
dawn of an eternal day will break over the hilltops, 
and then the journey will be ended. Blessed the 
man of whom in that hour it shall be said: " You 
have been faithful in a few things; I will make thee 
ruler over many things. ' ' Courage, then ! In God' s 
name, courage ! This life is the smelting-pot in 
which the gold is separated from the alloy. Cour- 
age, and you shall enjoy as much sweetness and light 
as this lower life affords. 



JUDGE KINDLY 

And above all these things put on charity.— Colossians 
iii., 14. 

/^^NK of the most important accessories to human 
^-^ happiness is to be found in a charitable judg- 
ment of those with whom you are brought into 
contact. 

To be kindly rather than harsh in criticism is 
an imperative duty which we most easily neglect. 
Charit}^ may seem to be an insignificant virtue, but 
it is very wide in its results and has a great deal to 
do with making your life sweet, fragrant, and 
smooth. 

A hair in a watch is also a little thing, and yet it 

spoils the watch as a timekeeper. No matter how 

perfect the mechanism may be, the hair is a serious 

interference, a deplorable intrusion, and until it is 

removed the watch is practically useless. It is a 

matter for serious consideration, therefore, if you 

92 



JUDGE KINDLY 93 

have a hair in your watch, for while it is there you 
may as well have no watch at all. 

A small vice, in like manner, may change the 
whole complexion of a character. The habit of find- 
ing a good motive wherever it is possible to do so is 
one of the noblest peculiarities of a true soul, and 
the habit of attributing a bad motive, or of searching 
for a bad motive, or of suspecting that an ordinary 
act may have a bad motive behind it, is just as dis- 
cordant with the nature of things as a false note in 
an orchestra. 

It is so much better to look on the bright side that 
I am inclined to say you cannot live a beautiful life 
without doing so. The most hateful and exasperat- 
ing think I know of is the tendency to see evil where 
you may just as well see good. Its effect on your 
self is spiritually depressing, and its effect on others 
is disastrous. To cultivate suspicion is to force the 
heart, the affections, to take slow poison. You can 
find no happiness in it, and you loosen the golden 
bonds of friendship, for the everlasting law is that 
what you give to others you get for yourself. 

It is impossible to love and trust without being 
loved and trusted in return. Cause and effect are no 



94 MAKING TH^ MOST OF I,IFE 

more sure than this statetaent of fact. It is equally 
impossible to distrust without being distrusted your- 
self. I would rather be disappointed nine times out 
of ten than to lack confidence in my friends the 
whole ten times. 

In the first place, it is unchristian to judge people 
harshly. There is religion in confidence, but none 
in suspicion. I do not care what your creed is, or 
how earnest you are in your aspirations, or how 
diligent you may be in the performance of your 
duties, if you are a fault-finder, or if you seek for the 
faults rather than for the virtues of your neighbors 
you are as far removed from true religion as the 
stars are from the earth. The angels will reject 
your acquaintance, and if the New Testament is a 
real revelation you cannot be approved by Him who 
said, ** Judge not, that ye be not judged." Even 
the poor Magdalen found pity in His sight. While 
the wretched hypocrites were ready to stone her for 
a crime of which they were themselves not entirely 
guiltless He shed about her the radiance of a divine 
sympathy, even as the sunshine enfolds the broken 
reed and silently helps it to recover from its wound. 

In the second place, you cannot afford to condemn, 



JUDGK KINDIyY 95 

for the reactive influence on your own soul is as un- 
fortunate as it is powerful. To cultivate the spirit 
of criticism is to discourage the upward tendency of 
mankind. To denounce a sinner is to give him a 
push along the downward path. He needs a help- 
ing hand instead of a curse. That is what God 
gives him, and that is what Christ has promised 
him. Are you greater than they, that you dare to 
refuse it? To habitually attribute an evil motive 
where perhaps no such motive exists is a crime 
against the mercy of Heaven and an extinction of 
that love which we are required to have for the whole 
earth. 

In the third place, we are largely the result of cir- 
cumstance and environment. I do not know what I 
should have been had I been born in different sur- 
roundings. When I see what temptations beset 
half the world I wonder that they are as good as 
they are. I do not blame as much as I pity. It is 
possible that if I had been rocked in another cradle 
and been nursed in another mother's arms I should 
not be what I am now. Temptations are strong 
and the power of resistance is weak. I,et us take no 
pride to ourselves because we stand on a high level; 



96 MAKING THK MOST OF I,IFE 

but, on the contrary, let us be profoundly grateful 
that the right influences were round about us in our 
early days. We might be where they are who are 
in the depths if fortunate circumstance had not come 
our way. 

And so I come back to the Christ. He is my phi- 
losopher, my guide, my revelation. Two duties lie 
before us — to be generous in our judgment of our 
friends and to be kindly and helpful to all the world. 
Herein we find a hard task, but it is a task on which 
the growth of the soul depends. Look for the good 
side in the character of your neighbors, and as far 
as possible make excuse for their weaknesses. Culti- 
vate a spirit of love, judge gently rather than 
harshly, make the kindliness of 5^our own soul felt 
by all, and you will soon discover that you have 
entered upon a new and a higher life. As to this 
seething world, which throbs with sorrow and guilt 
and remorse, be a noble influence, give of word and 
thought and deed into the great treasury of virtue, 
and so spend j^our days that not one of them will 
accuse you of neglect. That is the holy life to live, 
the only true life, the only Christian life. 



THE TRUE AND THE RIGHT 

It is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain right- 
eousness upon you. — Hosea x., 12. 

WHAT is true will hold its own against any 
odds. The bright yellow flame may be 
hidden in the dense smoke for a while, but if you 
have patience the smoke will blow away and the 
bright yellow flame will make the night like day. 
Astronomers tell us of stars which have grown old 
and crumbled, gone to pieces, and filled the infinite 
spaces with their disintegrated particles, but no man 
has ever yet said that a truth has died. There is no 
death, but only life, to truth. It is born, or it is 
discovered, or uncovered, but, once seen, it is never 
extinguished. God's own life is in it, for it is a 
part of Him, and neither can earthquakes destroy 
nor avalanches bury it. 

This also is true of what is right. It may be 
smothered by the private or the national conscience, 

97 



98 MAKING THB MOST OF I.IFE 

but it has its triumphal procession at last and 
drags wrong a prisoner at its chariot wheels. It is 
stronger than any one man; stronger than all the 
world in combination against it. You may sooner 
hope to blast Gibraltar and hurl it into the sea than 
to break what is right from its resting-place in the 
omnipotence of God. 

It always conquers, and he alone who is on the 
side of right is the victor in the end. Stretch the 
line of life until it fades into the mystery beyond 
the hazy horizon of this present life, and you may 
be sure that evil is evanescent and right is eternal. 
When it shall be our privilege to take some high 
standpoint in the large future and look back on these 
fleeting, exciting days of greed and selfish rivalry, we 
shall see with clear, perhaps with tearful and regret- 
ful eyes, that every mean word and thought and deed, 
however great the promise of advantage, has entailed 
a direct and palpable loss, and that when we did right, 
though at a sacrifice, then, and then only, were we 
paid in the coin of happiness and self-respect. It 
never pays to do a wilful or a conscious wrong. Were 
that possible, the universe would contradict itself, 
and God Himself would be a dream or a myth. 



THE TRUE AND THE RIGHT 99 

"There is but one principle that holds fast in what- 
ever waters you cast your anchor, namely, that 
he can never be driven to shipwreck of soul who 
knows what he ought to do and dares to do it though 
it costs him so much that his heart breaks. A man's 
character is all he has, it is his one great posses- 
sion, and if he loses that he loses all, absolutely all. 
With self-respect, the consciousness that your integ- 
rity is unsullied, you can face all worlds and look 
with undimmed vision on the Throne of the Eternal. 
Neither wealth nor poverty is known in heaven or 
regarded; but what you are in the fibre of your being; 
what you are in the moral timber of which you have 
made yourself; what you have done that is worth 
recording in a world filled with pitying angels, — 
these alone have weight and bring credit. 

We may not all be rich, 't is true, and perhaps 
't is pity that 't is true. You may have discomfort 
and struggle, possibly more storm than sunshine, a 
weary road to travel through these narrow years, 
but be sure of this, as sure as you are of the wisdom 
of God, that an honest man with a clean soul is 
worth more than all the wealth that excites our envy 
or stimulates our jealousy. To stand square with 

LofC. 



lOO MAKING THK MOST OF hlPH 

the law of justice and sympathy and fidelity, to be 
a hero because you are unsoiled by deeds which 
sting with the painful sting of a wasp, is to lay up a 
treasure of which death cannot rob you and which 
will lift you out of the grave laden with the blessing 
of God. 

Right is the normal heart-beat which indicates 
health and vigor, while wrong is that heart-failure 
which foretells death. You can live without many 
things and still be comfortable, but if you try to live 
without the approval of your conscience, despair will 
creep over you as the shadows of evening creep over 
the earth at sundown. Religion teaches us to keep 
our faces toward heaven, as the mariner watches the 
pole star, and to steer by what we see. To be true, 
just, kindly, is to bring heaven so near that when 
you die you will have but a step to go, and that step 
will take you within reach of a welcome that will 
make you glad that you have sacrificed all else but 
kept your faith in the true and the right intact. 



CHRISTMAS DAY 

If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to 
nought ; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it. — Acts 
v., 38, 39. 

I T does not always follow that a principle is true 
* because it withstands the ravages of time. A 
piece of driftwood may float on the ocean for many 
a year without being destroyed, and yet it is only 
driftwood. A thought, even a superstition, may 
have a persistency which will keep it alive, half be- 
lieved, half doubted, for generations. The mere fact 
of survival, therefore, proves little or nothing. 

But if a principle, after being incorporated into 
life, produce good results and shows that it can 
produce equally good results wherever and when- 
ever it is accepted, we may safely conclude that it 
is very close to an absolute truth. I may read the 
score of a musical manuscript and have only a vague 
notion of its merit, but when I listen while the full 
orchestra plays it then I know whether it will live 

lOI 



102 MAKING THK MOST OF I.IFE^ 

long or shortly die. If you place in my hand a 
kernel of corn and tell me that it will bring forth in 
plenty ray faith in your statement depends on my 
confidence in you as an authority. After I have 
planted the kernel and have witnessed the result 
then I do not simply believe, for I know. You are 
no longer my sole authority, because I am an au- 
thority unto myself, and my relation to you is one 
of gratitude for a great benefit which I should not 
enjoy but for your generosity. 

When I am told that progressive modern thought 
has perhaps already discovered truths which will 
render those of the New Testament obsolete and 
old-fashioned, as the stage-coach of our fathers is 
superseded by steam and electricity, I do not allow 
myself to be at all disturbed. What Christ taught 
inaugurated a new era in the moral consciousness of 
mankind, and I can see no evidence that those 
teachings have been worn threadbare, or that they 
have been outgrown. If there are men and women 
in the world whose lives are conducted on principles 
superior to those of Christ I have not had the honor 
of making their acquaintance. I have a right to 
judge others by myself, and as I find it extremely 



CHRISTMAS DAY IO3 

difficult to reach the ideal which He presented, I 
conclude that I am not exceptionally dull, but that 
I represent the average man, and that there is no 
more reason to believe that we can live beyond or 
above the Gospels than that we can thrive without 
sunshine or be healthy without food. 

We celebrate on Christmas Day the birth of an 
idea, of an uplifting faith in God and in our fellow 
men, of a belief that this life is only one chapter in 
the biography of the soul; and this idea is like fresh 
air to one who has been stifled, like spring water to 
one who is well-nigh overcome with thirst, and like 
a full blaze of moonlight to one who is staggering in 
the darkness along an upward path. Introduce a 
man to this new and broader outlook, let his eyes 
test on this far-off horizon line, give him opportunity 
to appreciate what such thoughts will do for him, 
and he becomes a new creature, gentler, braver, 
truer, nobler, more cheerful, and more resigned. A 
miracle has been wrought, for God and the Christ 
have entered his life and made it as productive as a 
wheat-field in which soil, sunshine, and dew are 
bringing forth an abundant crop. It is this creative 
quality of Christianity which makes it permanent. 



I04 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFB 

We may not need it when we reach the end of our 
tether, when we are fully rounded and developed, 
when we are all we possibly can become, but until 
that distant if not impossible day we shall be de- 
pendent on it for the endurance which bears without 
complaint, for the hope behind the tears of sorrow, 
for the glowing sunset which gilds the western sky 
and tells us of a radiant morrow after the shadows 
of death's dark night. 

If we stand by the manger of Bethlehem and look 
thence into the future we see a race on the threshold 
of a new era, its heart uplifted with new hopes and 
motives — motives which fill this life with beauty and 
hopes which dissipate the fog and bring the other 
life into full view. Under the impulsion of Chris- 
tianity we move, slowly it may be, toward the ideal 
society and the ideal man. Every age gives us 
a clearer vision of the truth and larger strength 
to attain it. Eighteen centuries ago, when Christ 
preached to a wondering multitude, we heard the 
faintest echo of divine music, but every generation 
has brought us nearer to the grand chorus, and in 
good time we shall be under the same roof with 
the singers and join in the chorus of " Glory to 



CHRISTMAS DAY I05 

God in the highest, and on earth peace and good 
will." 

Behind all our tears to-day is an unspeakable joy, 
for the very heavens have opened their gates, and 
the dim jfigures of the loved who have gone before 
move to and fro before our startled vision. The 
birth of Christ was the birth of a higher faith in the 
heart of mankind. 



A NEW YEAR 
Be ye therefore perfect. — St. Matthew v., 48. 

A X /"E are on the threshold of another year. 
^ ' There is no such thing as time to the soul, 
but our earthly limitations are such that it happens 
to be convenient to speak of months and weeks and 
days. Like grains of sand, which slip through the 
fingers no matter how closely we hold them, these 
weeks and months glide by us and refuse to stay 
even at our most earnest entreaty. 

I have sat by a mountain stream and watched its 
unceasing activity as it broke over the rocks and 
hurried to its destination. At first it was a pleasure 
to listen to its music, for its enjoyment of its task 
seemed like the laughter of childhood. But after a 
little I grew almost frantic, for the rippling waters 
flew by me with incessant speed and I could not 
persuade them to linger for a single instant. Ever- 
lasting motion toward an end! Rhythmic motion, 

106 



A NKW YKAR I07 

now subdued as the current passed over a smooth 
bed, and then uproarious and vehement as it dashed 
over the rocks which tried in vain to obstruct its 
path. 

So pass our days, quite heedless of our wishes, as 
though they were anxious to bear us to the Beyond; 
so pass our weeks and months and years, with ever- 
increasing haste, and one of our greatest surprises is 
that youth has suddenly changed to manhood, and 
that maturity has given way to gray haired age. 
No sooner do we begin to realize what it is to live 
than we find that already life has nearly ended. 

The past is little more than a dream, a faint 
reminiscence, which leaves us in wonder as to what 
the future will be. The past is the echo of distant 
music, now like a song and now like a dirge. We 
have suffered, toiled, struggled, and each experience 
has left its joyous expression on the face or its 
furrow on the brow. The pendulum swings, and 
swings, and swings. It is omnipotent, it is irresist- 
ible. Neither a king, with all his resources, can 
purchase a moment's hesitation, nor can peasant 
hold it in his mighty hand during a single heart's 
beat. We are being borne on toward eternity, 



I08 MAKING THE MOST OP I^IFiEj 

whether we sleep or wake, whether we be rich or 
poor, whether we weep or laugh. 

And why should it not be so ? Wherefore are we 
troubled ? The closer we get to the perfect man the 
less we regard this life, which is only the preface to 
the book, and the more ardently we regard the other 
life, which is the book itself. When faith is on the 
flood it sweeps all thought of time away. I^et the 
current bear us where it will, we are in God's hands, 
and the current is subject to His instructions. Other 
worlds await us. Larger opportunities are in the 
near future. The soul, now hampered by circum- 
stances, shall some time be free; the burden of 
environment shall be dropped, and when we are 
emancipated we shall be larger, nobler, and more 
like the Christ. What care we, then, for time? 
The years may come and go as they please, and 
their speed does not disturb us. We are on the 
road to our eternal home, and the nearer we get to 
it the higher are our anticipations, the deeper are 
our longings. Earth is nothing when heaven is in 
sight. 

The perfect man! He is coming, but not yet. 
He is afar off, with his face turned this way. We 



A NEW YEAR 109 

are simply spoiled children, with a New Testament, 
which we read but do not understand; with a ghostly 
sort of religion made up of dogmas which no one 
can explain; with a church so cold and formal that 
the Christ would hardly find a welcome there. 
Jesus said, ' * Follow me " ; then went to heaven. If 
we do follow Him can we by any possibility reach 
another destination? Religion, in its last analysis, 
is simply love and nothing else. No matter what 
creed you adopt you cannot make it into a bridge 
over Jordan to the Holy Land, but if you have love 
in your heart the bridge is already made and you 
will cross in safety. 

The world is mostly made up of heretics who think 
themselves orthodox. They believe almost every- 
thing except Christ. He has not yet been revealed 
to them. They know something about Him, but 
Him Himself they do not know. In twenty cen- 
turies more the race will have a real religion, to 
which the religion of to-day is the dry husk with 
scarcely a kernel of corn. Evolution is slow be- 
cause it must tear down so much before it can build 
something better on the old site. The perfect man 
will be a Christ-man, with power over body and 



no MAKING THE MOST OF LiFlEj 

control of mind. He will live on a higher spiritual 
level, become acquainted with the laws by which 
miracles were worked in other days, and will learn 
how to work miracles in himself. When man and 
God are at one everything is possible. When man 
is in harmony with the Infinite he can exercise a 
power beyond the reach of reckoning. There will 
be no poverty in that prophetic time, for when the 
rich man loves the poor and all classes are woven 
together in the fabric of a perfect society poverty 
will become an obsolete word and crime will be 
unknown. 

I believe, too, that the day is coming when the 
other world will be an open secret. What the 
prophets and seers of Israel saw we shall see. 
There will be another Jacob's ladder, and the angels 
will come and go as they please and as our needs 
demand. Heaven and earth will be so close together 
that they cannot be told apart. The dead — but in 
the Christian's vocabulary no such word will be 
found ; not dead, but born again; not dead, but 
living in the nearer presence of the Almighty, their 
love for us unbroken, their interest undisturbed, 
their power to help increased. 



A NEW YEAR III 

Year by year we throw aside something of the 
worn-out and old and take on something of the new 
and better. Year by year our sight grows clearer as 
we gaze upward with wonder. Year by year the 
Christ comes closer to our hearts, ready to teach us 
how to live. And so we speed the parting guest, 
grateful for the precious memories it leaves behind^ 
and welcome the newcomer, bearing twelve months 
in his arms, with the prayer that it may lead us a 
full day's march toward the Christ-manhood and the 
Christ-womanhood. 



GOD'S KINGDOM 

Thy kingdom come.— St. Matthew vi., lo. 

/^^F course the progress being made in all our 
^^ material interests absorbs our attention and 
excites our wonder. We have not only discovered 
new natural forces but are making use of them in 
such fashion that the rarest luxuries of yesterday are 
the common comforts of to-day. If life is to be 
reckoned by opportunities rather than by ' ' figures 
on a dial," we are lengthening its span with every 
new invention. The man who, instead of spending 
a week in travelling from New York to Boston, does 
his business in five minutes by telephone has added 
to his life by just the amount of time saved. He 
may not literally stretch his seventy years to an 
hundred, but he has crowded into them the experi- 
ences which his grandfather could not have had in a 
century. 

Great as these advances are, however, they are 

112 



god's kingdom 113 

minute in comparison with the strides which have 
been taken in religious concerns. We not only have 
more religion than our forebears, but we have a 
wider and a more wholesome religion. And yet the 
religion which we enjoy and think so marvellous is 
meagre and vague and dim when measured by the 
possibilities of the future. 

A thousand years are only a dream in the night, a 
mere particle in the great aggregate of eternity, and 
no man living can conceive of what the thirtieth 
generation from now will know concerning earth and 
heaven. That it will look upon us with something 
like pity for our ignorance, just as we look on the 
good folks who worshipped the gods of Olympus, 
goes without saying. 

Would it be too much to predict that they of the 
coming time will be able to demonstrate the differ- 
ence between soul and body and show that they are 
two different entities as easily as the chemist of to- 
day separates the oxygen and the nitrogen in a cup 
of water? Or that they will make such startling 
discoveries that when a man is in the proper con- 
dition he can see the air filled with spiritual beings 
who walk the earth unseen as the old prophet did 



114 MAKING THK MOST OF I,IFK 

when he became inspired ? Or that, in consequence 
of these facts, life, our human life, will be quite an- 
other thing from what it is now — higher, grander, 
nobler? Or that heaven and earth — that is, God 
and man — will be in such relations with each other 
that we shall look on our burdens and griefs with 
clearer eyes, and, knowing what they mean, use 
them for the development of qualities which now 
seem to be mere possibilities and of which we only 
catch a glimpse now and then ? 

It does us good, it is a decided encouragement, to 
feel that the road to eternal truth is a long one; that 
our light is only twilight; that the Almighty has in 
store for us many things which in His good time He 
will reveal, but which are hidden now because, as 
Jesus said, " Ye cannot bear them." 

There is a logic in these statements which seems 
to me irresistible. It is the logic of evolution, which 
may be slow in its processes but is sure to reach the 
goal at last. I,et me illustrate. The world is full 
of the unseen, but not of the invisible. What was 
unseen by our fathers has become clear to us, and 
what is unseen by us will be clear to our children. 
The near-sighted man sees little, but when he wears 



god's kingdom 115 

spectacles he sees more. The myriads of beings in 
a drop of water are unseen until we use the micro- 
scope, and then new realms break on our view. 
The heavens are a sealed book until we look through 
the telescope, and then we are overwhelmed. More 
and more of the invisible is becoming visible every- 
day. Is there any limit to our discoveries ? If we 
live long enough and walk far enough may we not 
see all things some day ? 

Look at the Christ! What did He know and see ? 
So much that even He did not think it wise to tell it 
all. We have been trying to digest His philosophy 
of life for many ages, but have only succeeded in 
getting ourselves into a theological snarl. He 
wanted to tell us how to live, but we have persuaded 
ourselves that His only purpose was to tell us what 
to believe. He is the Stranger in our great company 
even now. If He were to return and repeat His 
words we should turn our backs on Him as they did 
of old. The bottom facts of Christian society and 
of a Christian life are not appreciated nor even 
recognized. We are millions of miles distant from 
the truth He taught. How close the Father was to 
Him! And yet no closer than He may be to us. 



H6 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFK 

How calm under the stress of affliction He was! 
And yet not more so than we can be when we get 
our spiritual food from the same source. How con- 
stantly He felt the presence of unseen beings and 
what support they brought! And yet, though this 
is so strange that we can scarce believe it, those 
same angels are as nigh to us as they were to Him. 

We must realize these things, must meditate upon 
them until they become a part of us, must appropri- 
ate them to our own use. Then the bitterness of 
life will give way to sweetness. There will be rain- 
bows in our tears and behind our sighs a quiet res- 
ignation. There will be more hopefulness in our 
hearts, a strengthening faith which can endure all 
things, and our religion will be a series of light- 
houses enabling us to steer clear of shoals and rocks 
and to anchor in the haven of heaven at last. 



A LIVING FAITH 

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, 
but was strong in faith. — Romans iv., 20. 

nPHE diflference between the man of faith and the 
-■■ man of no faith is practically the difference 
between paradise and purgatory. 

A man does not need to believe many things, just 
enough to give him a safe anchorage in stress of 
weather. Long creeds are tiresome, and the longer 
they are the more tiresome they become. As 
spiritual helps they are of verj^ little value. If a 
man's theology consists of a few simple propositions 
there is small chance of his having a controversy 
within himself, whereas a complicated creed intro- 
duces many points of doubt. 

If a man believes in little else than an honorable 

life, but believes in that at all hazards, and stands 

by it in all emergencies, he will make a good citizen, 

a loyal friend, and cannot miss the approval of God. 

117 



Il8 MAKING THK MOST OF I,IFK 

Such a man could not go to any other place than 
heaven even if he wanted to, for he does not belong 
in any other locality. In like manner, if a man be- 
lieves only in the law of gravitation, but believes in 
that with might and main, he will not put up a 
building that is likely to tumble down and bring 
him to ruin. What he does build will be strong and 
solid. It may not be specially ornate, but it will 
last. 

It is better to be absolutely sure of one essential 
thing than half sure of a dozen things. And so I 
venture to say that if a man is thoroughly convinced 
that he is in a world governed by law, and that be- 
hind the law is the I^awmaker, that right is ever- 
lastingly right and wrong always wrong, he has a 
sure clew to lead him through the intricacies of life, 
its bereavements, its poverty, its hardships, and the 
strange change which comes when he falls asleep 
at last. The whole of religion, all that is necessary 
to keep him in the high road to heaven, will lie like 
a panorama in full view. A few certainties, and 
after that he may speculate as much as he pleases, 
for his many speculations will not interfere with his 
few certainties. 



A I.IVING FAITH II9 

The difficulty with the man who has no distinct 
belief is that he is not a safe guide for himself. He 
is not only afloat, but adrift. There is nothing he 
can depend on, very little of that patience and resig- 
nation which make things easy, and a good deal of 
that rebellion which makes them hard. He has 
more responsibility for himself than he can carry, 
and keeps watch on the bridge night and day, not 
knowing that there is a Captain at the helm. 

I can speak with confidence concerning this 
mental attitude because in my younger years I 
passed into and through some of the more radical 
phases of doubt. The sky was not very blue in 
those days, and I got very little out of life. I was 
compelled to be honest with myself, and was there- 
fore as miserable as I was honest. When at length 
I found good holding ground my anchor chain made 
merry music as it sought the solid bottom. I 
wanted little, but wanted that with a yearning inex- 
pressible, for there is a desperation in feeling that you 
are a stray waif in a strange world and that you are 
certain of nothing but uncertainty. One cares very 
little what he does when there is no God visible 
and no heaven to go to. With the grave as the 



I20 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

miserable terminus of our journey one grows selfish 
and discontented. On the other hand, with a hori- 
zon line stretching beyond sundown one is careful 
what he does, because to-morrow he may be sorry. 

A good, plain, square religion which everybody 
can understand, which appeals to the common 
sense of mankind, to the logic of the business man 
and the research of the philosopher, is the only 
thing to set this old world right and keep it right. 
You are bound for a port on the other shore, and 
you must govern yourself accordingly. There must 
be no death in our thoughts, for that is fatal to the 
development and discipline of the higher nature. 
Nothing makes a man so large, so generous, so 
unselfish, or so noble as a belief in immortality, and 
immortality must therefore be a fact or the universe 
is a huge deception. There must be another world 
somewhere in which these crooked things shall be 
made straight and these mysteries explained. Surely 
there will be a chance in some more favorable clime 
for us to make another effort in the light of a larger 
intelligence. We must also be able to look forward 
to a reunion after the hard separations \^hich carry 
our dear ones into the light leaving us in the dark. 



A lylVING FAITH 121 

With such a faith vouchsafed by the Christ and by 
the longings of human nature we can bear and for- 
bear, because the hour of rest is not far off. There 
is much more than this to believe if we have time 
to investigate, but it will serve our purpose. 



PEACE IN THE SOUIv 

For the kingdom of God is joy and peace. — Romans xiv., 17. 

T^HE Bible is the most practical book in the 
'■' world. There is very little theology in it — 
not as much as some people think — but a great many 
inspired bits of advice as to the conduct of every day 
life, as though the writer loved the men and women 
who would read his words and was actuated by no 
other motive than to help them over rough places. 
For this reason the Book has maintained its hold on 
mankind. It is friendly, kindly, and encouraging, a 
book not to be read through at a sitting, but to be 
taken up at odd times and glanced at, just as you 
would look at a handful of jewels for a moment and 
then put them away. 

I have noticed that it makes many, very many 
references to peace and joy — not the peace of a 
nation, that busy peace in which we compete for 

personal gain, but the peace of the heart, which 

122 



PKAc:e IN the; soui. 123 

creates contentment and keeps the soul in poise or 
equilibrium; the peace which makes a man feel that 
everything will come out right in the end because 
nothing can come out wrong when God is guiding 
our aflfairs. It is once spoken of in very extreme 
language as **the peace that passeth understanding," 
like the peace which a sensitive soul enjoys when it 
gazes on a magnificent landscape, or like that which 
the lover of music has when he is listening to some 
superb orchestra, or like that which a mother has 
when she is sitting by the cradle of her first born, a 
peace that refuses to be analyzed, but is so deep and 
strange that no one can describe it to a person who 
has not felt it. 

I am talking to myself as well as to you when I 
say that we could get a great deal more out of life 
if we were more reposeful. We expend too much 
energy on trivial things, things so unimportant that 
it does not matter greatly how they go. We allow 
ourselves to be disturbed by small matters, whereas 
the soul is big enough to look on them with indifier- 
ence. We keep ourselves in a condition of nervous 
tension, which is not simply hurtful to the body, but 
equally so to the spiritual nature. Body and soul 



124 MAKING THK MOST OF LIFE: 

are so closely related that overexcitement of the one 
seems to throw the other off its balance. You and 
I cannot be at our best until we are tranquil in heart 
with that kind of tranquillity which rests on the firm 
basis of faith that the angels of God are looking after 
our interests and trying to persuade us to take the 
right road to heaven. There is just an atom of in- 
sanity in us, and when we grow restless that atom is 
fanned into a flame. The truly sane man is the 
quiet-souled man. I say, therefore, since Christianity 
teaches a man to be quiescent, that the Christian re- 
ligion will both make us sane and keep us so. 

When crossing the ocean recently our ship ran 
into a storm. The sea was very rough, the fog 
closed in on all sides, and we had an uncomfortable 
time. The waves were in an ugly mood, and, on 
two or three occasions, swept the deck. I enjoyed it 
as little as did the other passengers and should have 
been grateful for a ray of sunshine. But that was 
not to be thought of. Suppose I had taken on my- 
self the responsibility of the situation. The captain 
was on the bridge night and day, but suppose I had 
allowed myself to wonder whether he knew his busi- 
ness, and had offered him advice as to the conduct 



PEACE IN THE SOUI. 1 25 

of the vessel. Would that have allayed the tempest ; 
would it have stilled the troubled waters ; would it 
have kept the ship from rolling uneasily ? I should 
not only have done no good, but should have inter- 
fered to my own detriment. My duty was to keep 
on my feet as best I could, not to go beyond my 
province as a passenger, to bear in mind that the 
captain had passed safely through a thousand worse 
storms and was showing no anxiety about this one. 
If I had faith in the master of the craft there was no 
need to be afraid. Any doubt as to his ability would 
at once create havoc of mind and body. My duty 
was to keep still and to cherish the conviction that 
all would be well in a few hours. 

Now, the spiritual diflSculty we encounter in our 
lives is this subtle suspicion that, after all, there may 
not be a God, or, if there is, that He is not equal to 
the emergency. That rankest of all heresies lies 
at the foundation of our religious restlessness. We 
may as well face this fact and govern ourselves ac- 
cordingly. The man who does not cheerfully meet 
his fate has a lurking doubt of God's existence. He 
may deny it to others, but he must needs admit it to 
himself. He may accept the longest creed that was 



126 MAKING THK MOST OF LIFE^ 

ever written and be orthodox in all the details of his 
professed belief, but if you could find your way into 
his heart of hearts you would discover that his faith 
in God is a social or ecclesiastical luxury, and as 
such is worth very little. 

Did Christ have any doubt that a legion of angels 
would minister unto Him in His necessity? Can 
you conceive of Him as sitting at the window of His 
friends' house in Bethany on the night before the 
crucifixion and wondering if He could go through 
the next day's experience? On the contrary. He 
was self-possessed, even cheerful, and if the oppor- 
tunity to avoid the cross had been offered He would 
not have used it. He knew that the Father was 
there, that the Father would be with Him, and that 
the cruel nails could not pain Him so much as a 
doubt of that Father's love. 

We cannot follow that example except in a far off 
way . He said * ' Thy will be done ' ' without a tremor, 
but we can say it with a tremor. The highest ex- 
cellence is repose, trustful repose of soul, but you 
cannot be self-possessed until you know that you are 
possessed of God. The essence of religion is the 
soul's consciousness that as its day so shall be its 



PEACE IN THE SOUI. 1 27 

strength ; that God and you can do anything and 
bear an3^thing. After that you will be at peace, 
quiescent and acquiescent. He who has hold of 
God's hand and knows it, is the most cheerful soul 
this side of heaven. 



HIGH THINKING, HIGH I^IVING 

But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest. — Acts 
xxviii., 22. 

'\ X TK sometimes speak of certain things as the 
* ' " necessaries of life," and we pass laws to 
prevent their monopoly by any scheming financier. 
We universally recognize their relation to the wel- 
fare of society and try to keep them in abundance 
within reach of all. They insure health, strength, 
and happiness. So carefully do we guard this pub- 
lic policy that any infringement of it is regarded as 
a crime. 

The world is young as yet and hardly recognizes 
the fact that there are necessaries of life for the soul 
as well as for the body. As food develops the physi- 
cal system so ideas develop the spirit of man. It is 
no more important that you should lay in a stock 
of the one than of the other. Men live on their 

ideas quite as much as they do on bread. 

128 



HIGH THINKING, HIGH LIVING 1 29 

As there is a difference in food so there is a differ- 
ence in thoughts. Some kinds of food are so easily- 
assimilated that the result is physical cheerfulness 
and endurance. Other kinds produce weakness and 
a tendency to disease. The normal action of the 
digestive organs is interfered with, and the result is 
depression and inability to cope with the difficulties 
which lie in every one's path and must be removed 
if we are to pursue our way to success in life. 

All this is equally true of ideas. Some are ex- 
hilarating, stimulant in their nature, uplifting, mak- 
ing us optimistic, hopeful, ready for any fortune 
that ma}^ befall. They nourish the soul, make it 
athletic, take away all dread of the future, give us 
what the racer has who feels sure that he is going 
to win the prize and whose anticipation of victory 
adds to the speed of his feet. Tell me frankly what 
your controlling thought is, what kind of thinking 
you do ever}^ day, and I will tell you what kind of a 
man you are, whether you are making friends or 
enemies, how you will meet the emergencies which 
come into every human experience, whether afflic- 
tion will embitter 3'ou, or mature, sweeten, and ripen 

you. We are what we think. Your chief thought 
9 



130 MAKING THE MOST OF I.IFE 

is as truly the master of your destiny as the captain 
is master of the vessel which he guides through 
storm and drifting currents. Your happiness de- 
pends not half as much on your surroundings as on 
yourself. It is possible to have nothing and yet to 
have all, and possible to have all and 5^et to have 
very little. A cheerful heart can lighten the heavi- 
est burden and make it comparatively easy to bear. 
If you would discover what a man's life is worth 
either to himself or to others you need not look at 
his bank account, for that is no sure indication. If 
you can find out what kind of thoughts he cher- 
ishes you will learn the whole story. 

It is also true that some ideas produce spiritual 
depression. There is a dyspepsia of the soul as well 
as of the body. Your thoughts may force you into 
a perfect purgatory and keep you there until you 
change your mental outlook. The apple seed never 
grows to become a pear tree, and the Jow thought 
never results in a high life. The level of your 
thinking decides the level of your living, because 
one is cause and the other effect. lyOve, and you 
will be loved ; hate, and you will be hated. Your 
attitude toward others is the sure indication of their 



HIGH THINKING, HIGH LIVING 13I 

attitude toward you, and the way in which you bear 
yourself toward the world is the product of your 
conviction as to your duty to be kind and helpful or 
your determination to selfishly get all you can at 
whatever cost to others. 

At this point I open the New Testament and find 
there a philosophy of life which startles and amazes 
me. We have never heard such words as were ut- 
tered to that little group of listeners on the Mount. 
We are told that the good God has a regard for our 
welfare; that a place has been provided for a con- 
tinuance of our labors after this short life has ended; 
that Jacob's ladder still stands, and angels are con- 
stantly ascending and descending ; that human ex- 
perience of all sorts is spiritual education ; that an 
unseen hand is always stretched out for our protec- 
tion and guidance, and that nothing can happen to 
us which may not be used as a stepping-stone to 
higher things. 

One trembles with gratitude in the presence of 
such elevating thoughts. A vista is opened which 
almost wearies the eyes by the radiance of the path 
we are called upon to tread. That path leads 
through showers of tears, through the storms and 



132 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

tempests of affliction, through loneHness and strug- 
gle, through tasks which will tax our strength to 
the utmost and through bereavements which will 
wring the heart to the point of breaking. All these, 
for some mysterious reason, are the *' necessaries of 
life," and every one who has lived has tasted the 
bitter and the sweet. 

But heaven lies before us. It is enveloped in an 
impenetrable mist, — a mist made iridescent by the 
shadowy forms which flit hither and yon on their 
errands of mercy, but there it is, and it is our desti- 
nation. Such thoughts are transfiguring in their 
influence. If they become a part of us, if we have 
appropriated them, assimilated them, we must needs 
be strong and cheerful, enduring and resigned, even 
as was the Holy One, who went to Bethany, thence 
to Gethsemane, and thence to the Father. 



THE IDEAL MAN 

Even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. — 
St. Matthew v., 48. 

TN the long past of human history there has been 
^ but one ideal man. He came, He startled the 
world, He disappeared. His stay was just long 
enough to drop a few seed principles into unwilling 
and barren soil, but they took root, grew into a for- 
est of stately trees, and now our social order and 
progress thrive under their grateful shade. Never 
has a man said so little and accomplished so much. 
Every thought was a revolution ; every word shook 
the earth like the blasting of rocks for the material 
of a new foundation. 

The Christ stood at a point which was a half-way 
station between the animal man of the past and the 
ideal man of the future. Humanity began as a rival 
to the brute ; it will end as the rival of angels. By 
slow degrees it has achieved an upward climb, and 

133 



134 MAKING THE MOST OF I^IFEJ 

every step has brought it closer to heaven. The un- 
told millions who have fallen by the wayside will 
continue the journey in another life. Generations 
have been snuffed out like a candle, only to be 
transferred to larger opportunities and a better envi- 
ronment. We also shall drop our earthly work 
to complete it in the immeasurable eternity toward 
which we are surely drifting. Without that eternity 
this life would be a grim disaster, but with it we use 
to-day, if we are wise, as a stepping-stone to an end- 
less series of to-morrows. 

The dignity and grandeur of the soul's possibili- 
ties are beyond the reach of the imagination. Kvery 
age pushes us forward into a wider development. 
Kvery experience, whether it is filled with smiles 
or tears, with leisure or struggle, is intended and Is 
fitted to give us new strength for the new outlook 
which it unfolds. The divine consciousness is al- 
ways present that we can do more and be more. A 
glowing ember from the altar of God is in the soul, 
and though it now slumbers it will some time be 
fanned into a flame. The earth may for a while 
enchain our attention, for it is a fascinating novelty 
to be alive, as the traveller toward the mountain- 



THE IDEAI. MAN 1 35 

top may rest satisfied with the prospect which 
stretches before his wondering eyes ; but there is an 
inward voice which tells us that we must keep our 
steady way until the summit is reached, and that 
the toil will be repaid by what is waiting for us 
there. 

What you are now is as nothing to what you will 
be, and you can never find perfect rest until the 
throne of God is in sight. When, therefore, you 
think of the soul's capabilities, of this earthly life as 
the dedication of a book to be hereafter written ; 
when you see that the laws of the universe, stern 
and implacable, are nothing more than the strong 
hand of a father who restrains his child from inflict- 
ing an injury upon himself, then you are in har- 
mony with the divine order; then you get a glimpse 
of true religion; then you are working side by side 
with the Christ. To know what God wants, and to 
discover that you can never be happy until you also 
want it is to learn the secret of usefulness and con- 
tentment. 

We are too perfunctory in our religion. We 
think to buy heaven by an obedience which is often 
irksome. We imagine that if we believe certain 



136 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

doctrines our belief will offset a selfish life. It is not 
belief that saves. There are no dogmas in heaven, 
but love only. Creeds are well enough as a pas- 
time, but the serious business of life is to be your 
better self in spite of temptation, and to grow larger 
and nobler with every decade that flies into the past. 
Growth is the watchword of the soul. 

That kind of manliness which knows how to keep 
its cheer in adversity as well as in good fortune; 
which cares for nothing except its own preservation 
and increase; which looks on unsullied honor and 
integrity as the only priceless jewels earth can offer 
— that kind of manliness and womanliness is an- 
other name for godliness, and the only religion which 
knows no change is securely based on it. You may 
be rich or you may be poor ; it is a mere incident. 
But if you are true, faithful, loyal to your destiny, 
seeking to be of service to the world because it is 
God's world, you belong to Christ and He belongs 
to 3^ou. You may weep or you may laugh, you may 
sit in the sunshine or the shadow, you have what 
money cannot purchase — a peace, a serene joy, a 
poise, a self-possession, which are a foretaste of the 
eternal life. 



THE LORD WILL CARE FOR YOU 

The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. — Psalms 
xxiii., I. 

THE man who looks on the bright side of life 
even when standing under the shadow of a 
bitter experience is called an optimist. 

The man who always sees the cloud, but never its 
silver lining, who predicts that there will be light- 
ning, and floods, and plagues to-morrow, in spite of 
the sunshine which floods the earth to-day, is called 
a pessimist. 

I have often noticed that a dog, when free to do as 
he pleases, is sure to choose a sunny spot to lie down 
in. He stretches himself at full length, and in his 
own peculiar way expresses the pleasure he takes in 
his good fortune. His very yawn and his look of 
happy reposefulness constitute a language that we 
all understand, and it tells us of the happiness which 

he enjoys. 

137 



138 MAKING THK MOST OF LIFB 

I respect the dog for the sensible view of life 
which he takes, and would fain follow his exam- 
ple. In this one regard he knows a great deal 
more than some men and makes a better use of his 
opportunities. 

Of all people in the world the most irreligious is 
he who looks at the evils of life so persistently that 
he cannot recognize any good in it; and of all hurt- 
ful habits which characterize mankind the most 
injurious is the habit of keeping one's eyes open 
to catch a glimpse of the disagreeable, and keep- 
ing them shut whenever a moment of good cheer 
is approaching. Such a habit is demoralizing and 
spiritually weakening. It seems to be continually 
assuring us that God's providence has fallen into a 
sound sleep from which there is no waking. 

I am a thorough optimist, and I take great delight 
in the fact. If you were to rob me of my feeling that 
things will come out all right in the end you would 
take from me the possession which I prize most of all. 

This optimism is not the result of temperament, 
but of conviction. With the dog who lies in the 
sunshine it is instinct, but with mankind it is the 
product of a careful use of the reasoning faculties. 



THE I.ORD WII<I. CARK FOR YOU 1 39 

The instinct of the dog and the brain of the man 
lead to the same conclusion, namely, that whenever 
there is sunshine it should be appropriated. 

It is just as much a duty to put the hard experi- 
ences of life away and to keep in mind its possible 
enjoyments as it is to be pure-hearted or charitable. 
Never dwell on your misfortunes, though thej^ be 
many, for it will embitter the soul and render it 
unfit for the work of the future. Brush aside un- 
pleasant memories, so far as lies in your power, and 
even try to forget them. There is no use in living 
over again and again the scenes through which you 
have passed, whether they refer to the evil you have 
done to others, the evil that others have done to you, 
or the unavoidable sufferings which you have borne. 
God has said that so far as He is related to your 
mistakes they shall be '* buried in the depths of the 
sea," and if He can forget them, forgetfulness is one 
of the virtues which ought to be practised on our 
part. It is not what j^ou have been in days gone 
by, nor what you have done which is most impor- 
tant, but what you are to be and do in the future. 

We can find much that is beautiful in nature and 
in life if we will but look for it. The world is to the 



140 MAKING the: most OF I^IFiR 

thoughtful mind a never-ending panorama, with its 
stars, its ocean, its hills and valleys, its crops and its 
clouds, its flowers and fruits. It is an awe-inspiring 
mystery, a realm of wonders that must needs rouse 
the dullest soul to worship. The change of a seed 
into a sapling ; the transmutation of a blossom into 
an apple or cherry ; the chemistry b}'^ which from 
the rugged soil color and perfume are extracted — 
these are miracles which lead a thoughtful mind 
along a narrow upward path whose terminus is the 
throne of God Himself. 

And a human life is full of beauty and mystery 
too. The tears you shed and the reasons for shed- 
ding them ; the laughter that fills the air and the 
causes which produce it ; the slow development of 
the child into a man; the gradual sunrise of ideas in 
his soul until the whole being is flooded ; the love 
that draws him to his mate ; the home which the 
two will make when they have found each other ; 
the sorrow that breaks the heart when the old parent 
or the young child is taken away ; the grave, which 
is as much a part of the home as the rocking-chair 
or the cradle — who can fail to worship the unseen 
but all- seeing God as he contemplates these things ? 



THE LORD WILL CARE FOR YOU I4I 

Aud add to this the thought, the certainty that 
there is no death, only departure and temporary 
separation ; that unknown and unmeasured influ- 
ences are about each one of us ; that what we call 
heaven is just on the farther side of the churchyard. 
You may call that optimism, but it would be better 
to call it the truth, for truth it is. It brings the 
cheerfulness of resignation; it stirs the deeper ambi- 
tions of the spirit ; it takes the various experiences 
of Ufe, just as the composer takes the various notes 
of music and sets them in such relation to each 
other that a symphony is the result. 

It is true that there are wearisome days and sad 
hours. The glorious Christ went through many of 
them, and we therefore could hardly expect to avoid 
them. They are stepping-stones toward heaven. 
They are as necessary to the soul as food is to the 
body. But if we meet them bravely and with un- 
dimmed faith we shall go through them unscathed. 
The angels will keep you company and see that you 
fail not and fall not. Keep the heart fresh and 
your confidence in God unshaken. Then you will 
some day be welcomed on the other shore by those 
whom 3^ou have loved on this earth. 



MORE IvIGHT 

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot 
bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is 
come, he will guide you into all truth. — St. John xvi., 12, 13. 

T^HE more you ponder the Scriptures the more 
•■• you find in them. They are not to be sim- 
i:>ly read, but carefully studied. They are like the 
ocean in that they fit every experience and are re- 
sponsive to every aspiration. 

The text disturbs us by its very richness. It 
shows us a vista so full of promise that we shade 
our eyes, while gratitude fills them with tears. No 
statement in the Bible so clearly defines the dignity 
of the soul or the close relation of God to it. One 
cannot accept it without a desire to live in the«very 
shadow of the throne itself. Meanness becomes 
meaner still, vice more vicious, and virtue, honesty, 
and loyalty more precious. 

God's revelations have always been made to tliose 

142 



MORE LIGHT 143 

who were willing to listen, and they will never 
cease. The old prophets were like the hills which 
lift themselves from the plain. Christ was the 
mountain which pierces the clouds and rises to 
heights unknown. But the loving lips of the Father 
are not sealed. There are many things yet to be 
said. We may not be able to bear them now, but 
when we long for greater knowledge that greater 
knowledge will come. 

Christ did not speak to the disciples alone. He 
looked bej^ond them to the spectral ages to come, to 
the generations yet unborn who would read, and 
ponder, and ask for more. The disciples were the 
representatives of the whole famil}^ of believers and 
of the seekers in all time. In everj^ century the 
race has had all it could use, but no century has all 
the truth there is. God is inexhaustible. We may 
grow, develop, aspire, but what we attain is only the 
crumb that has dropped from the Master's table, a 
handftil of sand from the infinite stretch of seashore. 

What Christ meant was that His coming created 
an appetite for the truth, the eternal truth, which 
will always hide itself behind the horizon, no matter 
how rapid our progress may be. And when His 



144 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

earthly mission was ended, and He had returned 
to the home on high, that mission would continue. 
He was truth in the manger, truth along the dusty- 
road He travelled, truth on the cross, truth ascended 
to heaven, with a spear-thrust in His side as a 
reminder of human ignorance, indifference, and 
hatred, and He is still the truth, ready to reveal 
Himself to those who seek Him with the earnestness 
of desire. 

The world feels the need of a present Christ. It 
is not enough to look back through the mists of half- 
forgotten memories tojudea, not enough to look for- 
ward to the vague hope of a second coming. We 
want Him now, a spiritually perceptible Presence, 
for the burdens of life are man)^ and heavy, and we 
cannot bear them alone. Christ, therefore, is not in 
heaven, but in a real sense He is here. There is no 
experience of honest joy or rugged sorrow with 
which He does not sympathize. There is no day in 
summer or winter when He does not form a part of 
the household. If our eyes are withholden and we 
see Him not it is because our lack of faith, like a 
grain of dust, has blinded them. The yearning of 
the heart is as loud as a trumpet-call, and when its 



MORE I<IGHT 145 

notes are heard in the other world ministering spirits 
hasten to our relief, unseen, perhaps, but not unfelt. 

In the solitude of your grief you have the company 
of angels, God's messengers, who bring the good of 
heaven to the ill of earth. You are not forgotten, 
you are not neglected ; you are ever in the Kternal 
Mind. You may not grasp that fact: it may even 
seem to involve an impossibilit}^ but it is the 
foundation on which all grandeur of character is 
built. Without it religion becomes devitalized and 
perfunctory. 

All the beings in the other world are interested, 
profoundly interested, in the development of this 
world. Were this not so, would Christ have come 
that He might help us to make the crooked paths 
straight ? If He has gone * ' to prepare a place for 
us, that where He is, there we may be also," is it 
not because the Father loves His children and is al- 
ways ready to answer their cries for assistance and 
advice ? 

Close the shutters of the heart and you live in 
worldly darkness, open them and the sunshine of 
the Eternal Presence pours in. Think of these 
things, keep this mighty truth in mind, become 



146 MAKING THK MOST OF LIFK 

receptive to the influences from above and they will 
be to you what the dew is to the flowers. Revela- 
tions of holy truth, locked out by selfishness and 
passion, by avarice and enmities, are alwaj^s knock- 
ing at the door, and to-day and to-morrow and 
every day God will speak to you, and the sweet in- 
fluences of the higher life will make you calm and 
brave and strong. 

Christ's heart was in heaven even when His feet 
were on the earth, and ours may be also. Those 
who look shall see, and those who listen shall hear. 



MAKING THE BEST OE ALL THINGS 

And be content with such things as ye have. — Hebrews 
xiii., 5. 

I DO not suppose that any one is perfectly satis- 
*- j&ed with his surroundings. There is no station 
in life which can furnish us with contentment. I 
have never yet seen a man who could truthfully say 
he would not in some respects change his environ- 
ment if he could, under the conviction that if it were 
changed he would be a better-developed, a stronger, 
and a happier soul. 

That is a very startling fact and one which has 
attached itself to every generation since the first 
created being opened his eyes on this beautiful world, 
or listened to the music of the wind as it used the 
branches of the trees for harpstrings. Moreover, I 
judge that the fact will remain one of the chief 
characteristics of human nature until the last gen- 
eration enters the shadow that keeps the other world 

from view. 

147 



148 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

I sometimes wonder what kiud of a creature he 
would be who had just what he wanted and all he 
wanted. Would he be happy or would he be miser- 
able ? I confess that I am unable to answer the 
question. The condition of affairs would be so dif- 
ferent from anything we have experienced that it is 
impossible to say what the result would be. Even 
when I think of heaven I cannot understand why 
there should not be longings and even anxieties, 
provided there is progress. A soul that has nothing 
more to attain, which has reached the end of its 
tether, is to me inconceivable. I like to think of the 
other life as the continuance of this life, and of my- 
self as stepping from narrow to large opportunities 
when I die, and if this be so I must be brave and 
strong in heaven in order to make use of the gifts 
of God which the angels will lay at my feet. 

I lay down this principle, therefore, that so far as 
in us lies we must influence our environment instead 
of allowing it to influence us, just as a bed of roses 
throws its perfume on the air. I have known many 
a man to be crushed because his home was not all 
it should have been, and many a woman broken- 
hearted because of inharmony in the household, and 



MAKING THE BEST OF AI,I. THINGS I49 

I have questioned my religion to discover if it can 
afford a remedy. Is it possible to endure the ills 
of life in such a spirit that we shall not be harmed 
by them, that we shall even grow better and purer 
through their adverse influence ? If this is God's 
world and not the Kvil One's, and if there is no lack 
of wisdom in the structure of the soul, we ought to 
be able to hold our own against all odds, for other- 
wise our life is simply a cruelty and our chief sorrow 
is that we were born into it. 

Now, it is not probable that any change can be 
made in your environment, but it is certainly pos- 
sible so to alter your attitude toward it that you will 
learn how to make the best of it, and that is the 
most important of all secrets. If you worr}^ over the 
inevitable and the unavoidable you simply waste 
your time and your energy and break your heart. 
The question is not how to get rid of the disagree- 
able, but how to become independent of it, and to 
live your own life in spite of it. The more you kick 
against the pricks the more you harm yourself. 
Sometimes you can climb over a wall when you can- 
not knock it down. If you can neither climb over 
it nor knock it down, stay on the side where you are 



150 . MAKING THK MOST OF I,IFK 

and see if you can make it a garden spot. Enjoy 
what you can, and don't allow the grinding ills of 
life to disturb you any more than can be helped. 

All this means that you are to depend on yourself 
and not on your surroundings for your happiness. 
If you can get any comfort from outside enjoy it and 
be thankful, but you must find your chief joy in the 
consciousness that you are doing your duty as you 
understand it and are helping others whenever the 
chance is offered. You must manufacture your 
heaven in the workshop of your own heart. Take 
what comes in the spirit of one who feels that the 
dear lyord is with you, that the lyord is personally 
present and giv^es you not only a full measure of 
sympathy but also the strength to endure calmly, 
patiently, and bravely. That state of mind will in- 
duce spiritual and also physical health, for worry 
brings rheumatism of body and neuralgia of soul. 

It is easy for me to tell you to rise above the jar- 
ring inharmonies in your environment and to live in 
your own thoughts and purposes, but the task is an 
extremely difficult one, I know. At the same time 
it is what the Christ did, and the doing of it is in 
the line of the religion which He proclaimed. He 



MAKING THE BEST OF ALL THINGS I5I 

was in the world, and He did His duty to the 
world, and without doubt He found some pleasures 
in the world, but He was serene amid adverse sur- 
roundings, and though conscious of discord, lack 
of sympathy, and even suspicion and hatred He 
was in a degree independent, living His own life in 
the companionship of angels. 

We may not do all that He did, but we may 
smooth many a rough corner and pass unhurt 
through many a thorny experience if we will but 
take ourselves in hand and look at life from His 
standpoint. The secret of living well is to live in 
peace, and to live in peace w^e must have peace in 
our own hearts. It is what we give to others which 
makes us happy rather than what we demand from 
them. In a word, life is not worth living unless we 
ourselves make it so. 



HEALTH AND STRENGTH 
Tby faith hath made thee whole. — St. Matthew ix., 22. 

T^HERE are two matters in connection with the 
•* Christ which I frequently ponder. They may 
seem to you to lack any special significance, and yet, 
though small, I liken them to the rudder of a vessel, 
which is as nothing in comparison with the great 
bulk, but which controls the situation and deter- 
mines the course to be pursued. 

In the first place, it is a curious fact that every 
artist who has portrayed the face of Christ has used 
his highest ideal of facial expression as a model. 
Even then he has failed to make his canvas repre- 
sent his conception. The countenance has been 
noble without haughtiness, benevolent but full of 
power, marked by gentleness without a trace of 
weakness. It is sometimes comely and sometimes 
sad, but always grand, a beautiful face, with per- 
haps the shadow of a great sorrow on it. 

152 



HEALTH AND STRENGTH I53 

In the second place, we have no knowledge that 
He ever sufifered from the physical ailments to 
which ordinary human nature is so prone. He was 
a wholesome, vigorous, unspeakably healthy being, 
taxed to the utmost by the constant demands made 
upon Him during the three years of His public life, 
but constantly receiving from some hidden source a 
renewal of strength. He was perfectly poised and 
always ready to meet an emergency, whether it was 
to face the hostile prejudices which plotted His 
death or expend some subtle energy in restoring the 
sick or dying ; calm as the ocean on an August 
day, omnipotence in the deep recesses of His nature, 
indifferent to all fortune, and caring for nothing ex- 
cept the will of God, as though God and He were 
in closer relations than it is easy for us to conceive. 

Is this wholeness of body and this grandeur of 
facial expression the result of miracle or the product 
of natural law ? And if the latter, then does it fol- 
low that since we are to imitate Christ in all other 
things we may also imitate Him in these ? Modern 
psychology comes to our rescue, solves the problem, 
and opens to our eyes very attractive possibilities. 

We know that strong emotions change the facial 



154 MAKING THK MOST OF I,IFK 

expression. A furious fit of passion, incarnate diab- 
olism, twists the face into a shape that is repulsive, 
while the rapture of holy ecstasy acts with an equal 
magic in the opposite direction. Habitual passion, 
anger, revenge, envy, selfishness leave their unmis- 
takable autograph in the countenance. The com- 
panionship of holy and high thoughts also leaves its 
traces, which are so plain that he who runs can read 
them, while a quarrelsome disposition reflects itself 
in the face as in a mirror. These are facts easily 
observed. 

It is also true that the higher a man lives above the 
animal level the more his body is affected by his men- 
tal condition. A depressing or an ugly emotion will 
change the pulse, while a pure feeling, one of good 
cheer, charity, kindliness, has a tendency to produce 
physical equilibrium. It is easier to keep well if 
one loves than if one hates. Science is impressing 
these facts on us with renewed emphasis every day. 

A common-sense religion, therefore, is the prime 
necessity of the age, the force which is ultimately to 
redeem the world. Religion deals only with great 
and noble things. It cultivates the pure, the true, 
the good. It broadens the shoulders when burdens 



HEALTH AND STRENGTH 1 55 

are to be borne, it calms the perturbed spirit when 
sorrows visit us, it whispers, " Peace, be still! " in 
every storm. 

You must not, however, mistake your creed for 
religion. A creed separates men one from another, 
but religion unites them. A creed does not engen- 
der charity for the opinions of others, but religion 
does. A man may have all the essentials of religion 
and yet be in doubt on certain theological points, or 
he may be logically clear in his theology and yet not 
be in any true sense a religious man. 

Religion is another name for love of all the world, 
with God, the father of all the world, in the back- 
ground, and Christ, the lover of all the world, in the 
foreground. It produces peace, resignation, repose, 
and these things are the basis of physical health and 
of spiritual beauty. Men and women should be 
noble creatures to look upon and vigorous in body. 
We have broken laws and are therefore neither 
the one nor the other. But Christ was both, and 
Christ's followers will become both when their 
thoughts and lives are in harmony with the will 
of the Father. Goodness, uprightness, are the first 
steps toward a heaven here and a heaven hereafter. 



THOU ART THERE 

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : if I make my 
bed in hell, behold, thou art there. — Psalms cxxxix., 8. 

THIS is a very significant statement and one 
which will repay a second thought. In some 
odd way our fathers put a limit to the omnipresence 
of God and declared that there is one place in the 
universe in which He is not to be found. Having 
theologically laid out a separate locality for the 
wicked, they rashly concluded that God never 
crossed its boundary line. They prayed to Him as a 
father, the father of every human being, with a love 
so boundless and deep that they could neither con- 
ceive of it nor measure it, and yet there was a door 
whose threshold He would not pass and a region in 
which His redeeming presence was never felt. They 
ignored this contradiction of terms and practically 
reduced the Almighty to a moral level which we 
should severely and justly criticise in an earthly 

parent. 

156 



THOU ART THERE 157 

Within the last two generations, however, we 
have been re-reading the Bible in the clearer light 
of new knowledge, and it has caused us to revise a 
great many of our former opinions. The new the- 
ology is based on a larger faith than the old, and if 
we think of God differently it is because we have 
come closer to Him. 

I am asked every now and again if I believe in 
hell. I have never known a man who did not be- 
lieve in it. It is not possible for any one of ordinary 
intelligence to deny the fact. For myself, I have 
been in more than one hell during my long experi- 
ence, and as I look about the world I see others who 
have not yet escaped from it. Sin, with its attend- 
ant remorse, its ghastly regrets, its overwhelming 
sense of un worthiness, its spectral fears— what is all 
this but hell? Certainly it is not heaven, but the 
very opposite. One need not think of hell as in the 
future, because it is all about us, and souls that are 
drowning their better selves in dissipation are in it 
without knowing it. By and by, long before their 
career is closed, when they recognize the fact that 
they have wasted divine energy on folly, they will 
see that they have literally made their bed in hell. 



158 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFK 

But I emphasize the fact that '* Thou art there." 
There is not a struggling, wrong-headed, wilful be- 
ing on the planet who has not his God for an on- 
looker and a companion. He is not a wrathful but 
a pitying God, who brings all the resources of om- 
niscience to bear on that soul's redemption. A 
broken law will inevitably crush, but with the 
crushing comes the pleading call to duty, and to 
listen to that call is to counteract the effects of evil. 
A good thought lessens the power of an evil thought, 
and the habit of right thinking kills all wrong think- 
ing. One cannot glance at Christ, and so catch a 
glimpse of the ideal, without absorbing a tonic 
which points to health. He can at any moment be- 
gin the ascent to a nobler manhood, because God 
has never deserted him, and never will, but sends 
redeeming angels to guide him through the slough 
of despond to the mountain-top. 

Now, if this be true of the present stage of exist- 
ence, it must be still more true of the next. When 
you die you will be just what you are now until you 
change yourself for the better. Death has no power 
to make a man good or bad, but is simply a change 
of. residence. You will gravitate to your own place 



THOU ART THKRE 159 

just as you have done here. But wherever you are 
you will be within reach of His urging, alluring, and 
redeeming love. There can be no spot in the uni- 
verse where He is not. The Psalmist is right : God 
is in heaven, and He is in hell. If, therefore, God 
is there, the whole influence of His presence will be, 
must be, to draw you to a higher moral and spiritual 
level. To say that God will under any circum- 
stances, either now or at any other time, leave you 
to your fate, is to wrong the Good Shepherd who 
left the ninety-and-nine sheep safely folded and 
wandered through the bleak darkness in search of 
the lost one. 

That kind of love is, in my judgment, the greatest 
possible incentive to righteousness. You cannot re- 
sist it, if you ponder it, anj^ more than you would 
treacherously desert your best friends, any more 
than the drowning mariner would reject the buoy 
which the life-saver throws to him. Religion is a 
recognition of God's love, which is patient, pitiful, 
and always at hand. You may be in hell to-day, 
but " Thou art there" also, the God who made you, 
the God whose Christ came to whisper good tidings, 
the God who wants you in heaven. That love must 



l6o MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFK 

win you at last, and when you surrender to its 
consecrating influence you will have but one re- 
gret, that you thought you could live so long 
without it. 



TO THE DOWNHEARTED 

And let us not be weary in well doing ; for in due season 
we shall reap, if we faint not. — Galatians vi., 9. 

** T^ON'T give up the ship! " was the dying in- 
*-^ junction of Captain I^awrence on one of the 
stormiest days in our national life. That cry has 
been ringing in our ears for a couple of generations, 
and when the emergency is on us and our energies 
are taxed to their utmost those words make our 
hearts beat with renewed vigor. 

During our civil war — now almost ancient history 
— I was with a regiment of worn-out men on a cer- 
tain occasion. They had travelled fast and far, and 
were ready to drop by the roadside through sheer 
exhaustion. The life had apparently gone out of 
them. They were hungry, they had been without 
sleep, they had faced a pelting shower, and were 
drenched and discouraged. Suddenly the band 

struck up, playing a patriotic air, and then I realized 

161 



1 62 MAKING THE MOST OF I.IFK 

as never before that there is in human nature a re- 
serve power which is without limit. Kyes grew 
bright, strength returned, good cheer prevailed, and 
the remainder of the day's stint was accomplished 
without further fatigue. 

The soul is so much stronger than the body! The 
body dominant, nothing is well done. The soul 
dominant, everything is done easily. The body as 
the servant of the soul will shirk its duty and mag- 
nify difficulties and turn the whole man into a cow- 
ard. The soul as master of the body, if inspired 
with a noble idea, will convert a man into a hero. 

If, therefore, I can win the attention of your mind 
or soul, — that mysterious something which is the 
proprietor of the body and lives in it as one lives in 
the house that he owns and can do as he pleases 
with, — and if I can persuade you that your life is 
a grand and noble thing, to be used grandly and 
nobly, I shall thereby give you an impulse which 
will brush obstacles aside like chaff and achieve 
victories worthy of immortality. 

Don't give up the ship! You may be walking 
along a thorny path, and if you were a mere animal 
you would lie down and die rather than meet its 



TO the; downhkartkd 163 

diflSculties. But you are more than an animal. 
There is eternal fire in your veins. You can con- 
quer discouragements, for there is nothing in life 
that can overcome your soul. When you are in the 
depths and your eyes are brimmed with tears you 
shall hear the overture of the angels and gather 
strength as you listen. 

Don't give up the ship! You may declare that 
you have been placed in the wrong environment ; 
you may feel in your heart the heat of a blazing 
ambition which your outward circumstances have 
suppressed ; you may be so shut in by domestic in- 
harmony, by the lack of sympathy, that your life is 
circumscribed within the narrowest limits, and you 
despair of doing anything worthy of even your own 
approval. If, however, you are conscious that you 
have ability of any kind, though it be ability which 
you have no opportunity to use as you would like to 
use it, that fact should give you a secret satisfaction. 
If you have any power, any genius whatever, apply 
it to the smallest duties that lie in front of you. An 
archangel fettered would still be an archangel. If 
he knows what he is, and God knows what he is, 
and God sees that he is doing a peasant's work with 



164 MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFB 

an archangel's hand and brain, it matters very 
little, after all, whether the world smiles in admira- 
tion or frowns in indifference. If you are all right 
toward heaven you can afford to be unnoticed on 
earth. The time will come when you shall be 
known to be what you are, and that will be a sweet 
by and by for your soul. 

Don't give up the ship! Life has its hardships ; 
one meets them at every turn, but put your whole 
heart into your work, and at sundown you shall be 
glad and content. The Father has a long memory, 
and in some future day you will find that He has 
not forgotten you or your humble duties nobly 
done. 

There are dark hours for all of us. Rich and poor 
alike, literate and illiterate, the so-called high and 
low, have at times an armful of sorrows. No one is 
exempt from the general fate, though it sometimes 
seems as though there were favorites of fortune. 
The rule, however, is inexorable in its application. 
Trials are manifold, but a strong heart need not 
succumb. 

If this life were all, we could not bear these 
griefs and disappointments. It would hardly be 



TO THK DOWNHEARTED 1 65 

worth our while to bear them. But with eternity 
before us, with a new environment awaiting us, 
with innumerable opportunities beckoning us on- 
ward, let us be brave, bearing our burdens with 
the calm fortitude of a noble character, resigned 
to the inevitable and making the best possible use 
of it. 

Walk with dignity the path marked out. Clean 
of heart and hand, with a soul above reproach, take 
your life as an imprisoned archangel would take 
it, and make a ladder of it, down which the dear 
ones may come to bring you messages of love and 
peace. 

It seems to me that that is the new Gospel, or 
rather the new and true interpretation of the old 
Gospel. That is what Jesus did, and in a far-ofif 
way we can follow His example. 

Whatever your circumstances, God lives and is 
with you. 

You cannot be disheartened as long as your faith 
in Him abides. 

The strong man is not the world's man, but God's 
man. 

To-day is short, but to-morrow will be long, and 



1 66 MAKING THK MO.ST OF I.IFE; 

it is better so to live that your regrets will be short 
and your joy long than that your pleasures shall be 
short and your regrets long. 
Don't give up the ship! 



WE BELONG TO TWO WORLDS 

The world passeth away, and the lust thereof ; but he that 
doeth the will of God abideth forever. — i John ii., 17. 

" I AM a man of the world! " That is your boast. 

'^ 'But it is really nothing to boast of, for you 
have dissipated, one half of your heritage. Or per- 
haps you have never known anything about that lost 
half. The ideal man is not simply and. only a man 
of the world, but a man of two worlds. Until he 
recognizes that fact and governs himself accordingly 
he cannot sing his song with a clear voice or do his 
own soul justice. 

There must be two sides to a twenty-dollar gold 
piece or it is not genuine. In like manner a genuine 
life must have two worlds in view all the time. 

This lower world is man's field of action, in which 

he shows his mettle, and in which he not only forms 

his character, just as a boy learns his lessons at 

school, but adds to the aggregate strength or weak- 

167 



l68 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFB 

ness of his fellows. If he is ablaze others will light 
their candles at his fire ; if he is taerely cold ashes 
they will blow into people's eyes and so blind them 
that thej^ cannot see the truth. 

The other world is a reservoir from which he 
draws daily inspiration, — patience with which to 
achieve under difficulties, hope, cheerfulness, spirit- 
ual repose, and resignation which sweetens the soul 
that would otherwise be embittered. 

When a man is only half himself he is satisfied 
with to-day, its ambitions and pleasures. When he 
is his whole self this world is too narrow for his 
soul, and he finds a peculiar happiness in the con- 
templation of another sphere which will furnish him 
the opportunity to attain his manifest destiny. 

It seems very odd to hear a man argue that he is 
under no obligation to obey a God whom he has 
never publicly confessed. He is a man of the world, 
neither knows nor cares anything about religion, 
and therefore claims the right to do as he pleases. 

Now, it is a man's business to know something 
about the laws of the world he lives in, and it will 
not help him in the least to shrug his shoulders and 
declare that he does not believe in those laws. The 



WE BELONG TO TWO WORLDS 1 69 

stern fact is that the laws will act whether he be- 
lieves in them or not. They are quite independent 
of anything he may or may not believe, and after a 
while he will learn that it is very much more to his 
interest to know what they are and to give strict 
heed to them than to ignore them or deny their 
existence. 

He sees this with regard to physical law and is 
very careful about breaking it. When standing on 
the edge of a precipice he may deny the existence 
of gravitation, but he will not take the leap and 
thus show the courage of his convictions. The law 
does not care a jot or tittle about his personal theo- 
ries. It will do its work in spite of his arguments, 
and he will certainly suffer the consequence of his 
rashness. 

The spiritual law is equally rigid, though it acts 
more slowly. For that reason some men are de- 
ceived. You many not believe in purity of body, 
but still the revenges of time are awful. You may 
ignore all moral principles, you may even succeed 
so far as to make a fortune based on evil prac- 
tices ; but when you investigate your own charac- 
ter, if you ever dare to do so, you will be forced to 



lyo MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

acknowledge that you know little about the sweetest 
and most reposeful and joyous part of life, and that 
you have been feeding on " the husks which the 
swine did eat." 

I know of no spectacle more painful to contem- 
plate than that of a man who has persistently used 
the world for purposes of selfish gain, ignoring all 
obligations of honesty, charity, and generosity, and 
then in his old age sees himself just as he is — 
dwarfed, twisted, incapable of holy emotions or high 
aspirations; a poor, miserable creature who has lived 
a mistake and reached a period beyond which re- 
covery is impossible so far as this life is concerned. 
For such a man to see himself just as he is, to meas- 
ure his own exact weight, to know vividly how he 
is regarded by his fellow-men, to be conscious that 
his example, as bad as it is brilliant, has led scores 
astray — that must be a doom too dreadful for words 
to express. I have heard a great deal about hell, 
but that man can tell me of more horrors than I 
have ever conceived. 

To have your soul take you in hand and show you 
how you have abused it ; to have some angel paint 
the picture of what you might have been, and then 



we; bklong to two wori^ds 171 

force you by divine compulsion to compare it 
with what you really are, that would be simply 
awful. 

If you answer the charges of the angel by saying 
that you are a man of the world, the reply will be 
forthcoming like a peal of thunder: ' ' You were not 
born to be a man of the world, but a man of God." 
If you know enough to use this world you should 
know enough to use it in such way that if there is 
any other world you will be fitted to enter it without 
shame. 

No ; there is but one way to live, and that is to 
live justly. The world is large and wide, but there 
is no spot where a man can hide from the moral con- 
sequences of dishonesty. A noble character is not 
created, it is developed. Kven on the low plane of 
pure expediency it is better to be true to yourself than 
to be false. You cannot ignore a tornado, you must 
protect yourself against it. You cannot ignore God 
or His laws, for they refuse to be ignored. 

Religion is only another word for common sense. 
It is not a mystery, it is a plain and simple fact. If 
you live grandly, nobly, justly ; if you direct your 
voyage by the stars ; if you can look the world in the 



172 MAKING THR MOST OF I^IFK 

face without a blush, knowing that the world can 
see your soul and your motives as well as your ac- 
tions, you have that kind of religion which is con- 
tained in the Sermon on the Mount, and it will 
sufl&ce for here and hereafter. 



THE SOUL'S GRANDEUR 

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we 
are the children of God. — Romans viii., i6. 

f T is a common but very erroneous impression that 
* when a child is born he is not a religious being, 
and that at some time in the soul's career religion 
must be imported from without. The old dogma 
which insists that the natural man is a depraved 
creature, and that he cannot be saved until God 
gives him something that was denied him when he 
first came into this wonderful world, has sounded 
through the ages like a depressing dirge. It is a 
reflection on the goodness and the wisdom of the 
Creator which we have a right to resent. 

The man who has musical geqius and gives to us 
compositions which will ring in the ears of coming 
generations did not import into his soul the love of 
music or the ability to express it. He did not pur- 
chase the spirit of song or harmony, he simply 

173 



174 MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFEi 

developed it. It must have been a component part 
of himself when he was in his mother's womb, and 
though in after-years it may have been smothered 
by adverse circumstances and he was unaware of its 
existence, still it was there, and only needed to be 
waked up. When he became conscious of his rich 
possession and of its high possibilities he was musi- 
cally born again, his whole attitude was changed, 
and new aspirations, new dreams, new pleasures, 
and new achievements lured him upward. 

The same is true of religion. The divine within 
us recognizes the divine everywhere ; the God in 
the soul recognizes the God in the universe. We 
cannot search for holiness as the prospector searches 
for gold and surprise ourselves by finding it. There 
must be in our personal depths something Which 
longs for what is in the infinite depths or we should 
never know which way to move in order to discover 
it. The bit of magnetic iron is attracted to the 
great bulk of magnetic ore because the little bit has 
in small measure the same quality which charac- 
terizes the whole bulk. The atom is related to the 
measureless in some mysterious way, and the ten- 
dency of both, therefore, is to come together. When 



THK SOUIv'S GRANDEUR 1 75 

this greater and this lesser are united the greater 
controls the lesser, and the lesser finds its happiness 
in that control. 

The soul is the atom. It has without doubt gone 
wrong, and is still going wrong. In consequence it 
fails to achieve its perfect mission, and is unsatisfied 
and discontented. The spark of God is, however, 
inherent in it and cannot be extinguished. No part 
of God is ever annihilated, and that divine element 
which the soul received from the Creator cannot be 
eliminated by any gusts of crime. It may be cov- 
ered up, hampered, choked, unable to express itself, 
because selfishness is cruel, ruthless, reckless, and 
given to desperate deeds, but it is indestructible and 
will some time come to its own. The worst man 
that ever breathed has the making of an archangel 
in him, because he has the breath of God in him, 
and only time and opportunity — in other words, onl)^ 
the proper environment — are needed for the nobler 
self to begin its education. This was the thought 
of Christ. He saw that smothered spark in the 
penitent thief on the cross, and He saw it in the 
Magdalen who tearfully sought His aid. The great 
central truth in His teaching is the dignity of 



176 MAKING THK MOST OF I.IFE 

human nature, the possibilities of the soul when 
selfishness is rooted out and love is substituted. 
His mission on earth was to emancipate the divine 
from its worldly enth raiment ; to wake up the soul ; to 
tell us that we must live like God's children because 
we were born members of God's great family. He 
opened the very gates of heaven in order to disclose 
our eternal destiny, knowing that if we properly 
appreciate ourselves all mean and sordid motives 
will drop like frost-bitten leaves ; that when one 
gets a glimpse of God he must needs become 
godlike. 

There is, therefore, nothing so encouraging or so 
cheering as religion. You are a prince of the uni- 
verse, and whatever is sordid is foreign to you and 
has no relation to your better self. The vicissitudes 
of life, its strange struggles and hardships, are a 
part of your earthly campaign, the road which leads 
to ultimate victory. You may be severely tried, — 
as who is not? — but trial with God's presence is bet- 
ter than worldly success without it. You may lose 
much and mourn its loss, but the losses of this 
earthly life prepare the soul for immortality, and in 
some mysterious way develop and ripen it. 



THE SOUI^'S GRANDEUR 1 77 

You came from God. Then use the experiences 
of these lower years as a school from which at 
graduation — that is, at death — you will enter the 
higher life equipped and ready for its opportunities. 



ANGKL MINISTRY 

And, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. — 
St. Matthew iv., ii. 

WK have absolute faith in the revelations of 
science, as indeed we ought to have. The 
wonders of the physical world have been so long in 
hiding that they now seem anxious to make them- 
selves known, and the genius of research can hardly 
wander into any bypath without discovering some 
new law which can be made of practical benefit. So 
frequently has this happened during the last three 
generations that we have ceased to be startled by 
any fresh announcement. We recognize the age of 
miracles. We are in the midst of a daily increasing 
multitude of them, and if the future can keep pace 
with the past our children's children will be able to 
say that they have a new heaven and a new earth. 

Running parallel with these victories over ma- 
terial things is a quickened curiosity concerning 

178 



ANGEIv MINISTRY 1 79 

things spiritual. Science and religion are like the 
bass and treble of a great organ when touched by 
the hands of a master, for they blend in perfect har- 
mony and produce results which even angels may 
listen to. They are simply different parts of the 
same musical score, for neither can be perfect with- 
out the other. What God says in the clouds and 
what He says in the Book must be closely related. 
The Sermon on the Mount is akin to the truth in as- 
tronomy. There is but one Voice in the universe — 
it whispers in the south wind and thunders in the 
tempest. 

We accept without question the declarations of 
science, but we receive the Scriptures only in part. 
One of the most essential elements of the Bible — the 
helpful presence of invisible beings and their ability 
to extend their good offices — is, oddly enough, 
looked upon with doubt and suspicion. In our re- 
ligious conventions we insist on plenary inspiration, 
and at the same time ignore the fact that constant 
communication between heaven and earth is one of 
the corner-stones of the Bible. We are told in Holy 
Writ that God is always within reach of a prayerful 
voice, and Christ distinctly promised that He would 



l8o MAKING THE MOST OF LIFK 

come unto those who should call upon Him, and 
abide with them, and it is asserted that a cloud of 
witnesses interested in our welfare * ' hold thee in 
full survey." But these facts are lost sight of amid 
the fogs of dogma and have never had, and do not 
now have, the hold on our souls which is their due. 

We are, however, facing in that direction, and every 
step brings us nearer to the perfect day. The time is 
not far distant when humanity will be greatly blessed 
by a fuller appreciation of this truth, when souls will 
receive added strength through these channels, now 
choked, if not closed, by the narrowness of prejudice. 

We cannot live at our best until the other world is 
as real as this one ; until it becomes as easy and as 
natural to commune with the dear ones who have 
gone as it is to hold converse with the dear ones in 
the household. If this seems strange and startling 
it ought not to be either the one or the other, for it 
is as plainly taught as are the Ten Commandments. 

I welcome, therefore, what rather conceitedly 
styles itself the New Thought — whereas it is in 
reality the oldest thought of all. It may be some- 
what fantastic, and may go farther than we are 
willing to keep it company, but it emphasizes the 



ANGKI. MINISTRY l8l 

immanence of God, the presence of Christ in human 
affairs, and the wilhng assistance of angels to enable 
us to do our work and bear our burdens, and in 
these respects we should bid it cordial welcome. He 
who turns our thoughts upward, bids us rely on the 
Father for support, and assures us that, poor and 
weak as we are, we have all Heaven on our side, 
does us a service for which we cannot be too grate- 
ful. And in an age in which men are clinging to 
wealth with insatiable greed, magnifying its impor- 
tance beyond all due proportions, such thoughts are 
as refreshing as a breath from the sea on an August 
day. They have a place, and their voice is the 
voice of good cheer. 

We have not yet outlived the Scriptures. There 
is nothing better in sight ; neither is there likely to 
be. What we need is to re-read them and think 
seriously of those passages which we have heretofore 
ignored. We shall be surprised, delighted, and 
blessed. Spiritual dawn will give way to day, our 
outward look will be larger and our upward brighter. 
Burdens will be lighter, the future glorious, and the 
heart in harmony with the love with which God has 
flooded the universe. 



BE NOT DIvSCOURAGKD 

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou 
disquieted in me? — Psalms xlii., 5. 

WHEN I was young and full of enthusiasm it 
puzzled me sorely that David could be 
called a man after God's own heart, for he certainly 
played some very bass notes on his harp. He was a 
man of moods, sometimes aspiring to perfection and 
losing himself in ecstatic meditation, and at other 
times sinking to such a low level that even repent- 
ance and remorse covered his sin with difiSculty. 
How such an one could be spoken of with unstinted 
approval was beyond my youthful ken, and I in- 
dulged in a degree of spiritual repugnance. 

But in my after-life, when on many occasions I 
was forced to lower my lance and acknowledge de- 
feat, I learned that a man may keep the ideal always 
in view; determining to reach it at last, but still be 

occasionally overcome, thrown down, unhorsed by 

182 



BE NOT DISCOURAGED 183 

outward and inward temptations, and then I had a 
great respect for David and was thankful that God 
could regard the general trend of his life and disre- 
gard some of its unhappy details. 

The seer and singer of Israel is a perfect represen- 
tative of your human nature and mine. There were 
hours when he was in heaven, his soul in direct 
communion with the loftiest thoughts, the earth a 
stepping-stone to the stars, the angels within reach 
of his voice, the air he breathed as free from taint of 
sin as the air of the New Jerusalem. 

And there are few of us who have not enjoyed 
equally transfiguring moments, periods of conscious 
nearness to God, of such holy aspirations that the 
cares and struggles of this world have been forgot- 
ten. We have literally spent an hour in Paradise, 
almost seen the face of the Father, almost heard the 
music of the upper land, and felt that never again 
would we succumb to the irritable and harassing 
cares of life, for with this new accession of strength 
we would put all things under our feet and conquer 
ourselves and the world. This experience has come 
like a flash and gone as it came, but it has left sweet 
memories behind it. We have caught a glimpse of 



1 84 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFK 

our higher selves, of ourselves as we shall be when 
the tuills of Providence have done their perfect work 
in us. When we get back to our petty troubles and 
our ordinary mood we are like the sailor who has 
drifted on a troubled sea, with no chart or compass, 
who has caught sight of the blazing lamp in the 
lighthouse yonder and then lost the blessed vision 
in a veil of fog. 

There were times also when David descended into 
hell. He hung his harp on a willow and was either 
dumb with despair or cried out in tones of profound 
misery, — from exaltation to tears of self-reproach, 
from the mountain summit to the malarial valley, 
from an ecstasy to unutterable agony, — and all be- 
cause some tidal wave had swept away his faith, his 
serenity of trust, and left him, as the fierce storm 
leaves the shattered vessel, a pitiable wreck on the 
rocks. 

And here again the resemblance is perfect. Not 
one of us but has explored those depths. There are 
times when life seems an inextricable tangle; when 
the spirit of evil and injustice broods over the uni- 
verse; when nothing is as it should be, and when we 
ourselves are warped in heart by the hot fires that 



BE NOT DISCOURAGED 1 85 

have burned within, as the iron frame of a building 
is crooked into a shapeless mass by a conflagration. 
What does it all amount to, we ask, and what will 
be the end of it all ? Why stem the tide ? Why not 
go with the current, no matter where it takes us? 
This ceaseless struggle, is it worth our while ? The 
mythical pit which made our childhood shudder can 
furnish no pangs more excessive in their agony than 
some of these passages that we have passed through. 

But we cannot stop here. Having followed David 
thus far we must go with him still farther. Despair 
is infidelity. Discouragement is weakness, mental, 
physical, spiritual. We forget certain things and 
must bring them sharply to mind. We have been 
listening to music in the minor key, but there are 
exultant notes, and if we hearken we shall hear 
them and regain possession of ourselves. There are 
clouds, but also blue sky. The clouds will pass if 
we are patient, but the blue sky is there forever. 
There are thunderbolts, and little wonder if we 
tremble when they strike, but the world is not all 
thunderbolts. There are fields and flowers and 
summer sunshine and better days to come. 

God has not deserted His universe. The angels 



1 86 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE 

have not colonized on some distant planet. Be stout 
in heart and strong in purpose. Mend the broken 
harp, and you will find that its strings will respond 
in joyous strains. Brush aside the abnormal mood. 
You may have thought this life a vale of tears, but 
there can be no vale of tears if God walks through 
it with you. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? 
Is not the shoulder fitted to its burden if you will 
allow it to be ? You may sufi*er hardship, misfortune 
may tread close on your heels, but the evil days will 
pass. The clouded sun will shine again, the pelting 
rain will cease. You will yet praise Him who is the 
health of your countenance and your God. 

Never lose your faith. The compass is just as 
true in tempest as in calm. You may be bruised 
and broken, but there is no power on earth that can 
prevent you from reaching the haven at last. The 
worse your fortune may seem to be, the more you 
need faith; and the more faith you have, the better 
will you bear and the more easily you will conquer. 



RKPOSK OF SOUI. IS STRENGTH 

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. — 
Isaiah xxx., 15. 

IN my early youth I watched a game of chess 
* played by two experts, and the lesson I learned 
has lasted me a lifetime. For a while the chances 
were even, and it would have been rash to prophesy 
the result. The victory hung in the balance, and I 
was breathless. At last I noticed that one of the 
players was losing his quietness, and then I made 
the startling discovery that in his case, at least, the 
loss of quietness was the loss of strength. Impulse 
and rashness took the place of calm wisdom. He 
made hasty moves when he should have been espe- 
cially deliberate. In thirty minutes the end came. 
The quiet player won and the hasty player was 
defeated. 

From that incident I deduced a general prin- 
ciple which has served me a good turn in many an 

187 



1 88 MAKING THB MOST OF I,IFK 

embarrassment and helped me to overcome many a 
temptation. In life, as in chess, other things being 
equal, the man who acts slowly, measuring the conse- 
quence of what he proposes to do, is apt to gain his 
end, while the man who is governed by impulse 
rather than reason does himself very slender justice 
and fails in the achievement of his ambition. One of 
the best things in life is to have undisputed posses- 
sion of yourself, and one of the worst things — indeed 
it is a positive misfortune — is to let yourself get 
away from yourself. 

I revert again to the Christ. Whatever j^our theo- 
logical opinion may be, we must all agree that in 
character, in the manner in which He met the ex- 
periences of life. He serves as our guide as surel}^ as 
the north star serves the mariner. He furnished a 
perfect illustration of my text, for the quietness of 
His soul was the strength of His soul. No haste, 
no worry, no wild or rash activity, marred His career. 
He could say to the Sea of Galilee, *' Peace, be still! " 
but He had no need to command Himself to be 
quiet. 

The ideal man is not the phlegmatic, the in- 
different or sluggish man. Such a man is like 



REPOSE OF SOUL IS STRENGTH 1 89 

a pile of green wood, from which you can get 
no blaze. There is in him neither heat nor good 
cheer. 

The ideal man is the man of many passions, im- 
pulses, ambitions, but all under control of a central 
will. If you wish your engine to do good work, 
you must have plenty of coal in the grate and plenty 
of steam in the boiler. But you must be master of 
the steam, for it is omnipotent to do your will if 
rightly directed and omnipotent to destroy you un- 
less so directed. There is a great deal of religion in 
simply keeping quiet. It is the best thing for you 
to do, and at the same time the hardest. The rash 
people in the world spend most of their time in re- 
gret for what they have done. Friendships have 
been broken by words which no more represented 
their real sentiments than a house on fire represents 
the happiness of the family that Uves in it. Domes- 
tic misery has been caused by language, hasty and 
unconsidered language, every syllable of which falsi- 
fied the true feeling of the person who uttered it. 
The speaker was simply obsessed, a bad influence 
threw him into mental chaos, and his words were 
a blizzard — a cyclone. He could not control it 



I go MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFK 

because he had not learned one of the important 
secrets of success. 

More and worse than that. Many a man has 
made a failure of his career for the same reason. 
The New Testament is worth studying if you would 
find the best way to get on in life and to make the 
most of the varied experiences which come to you. 

You are too much like the Sea of Galilee in a 
storm. You need some one at your side to cry con- 
stantly, "Be still! ' ' But you ought not to need this, 
for you should be your own ruler and utter the 
command to yourself. 

We are in a state of mind too constantly perturbed 
and restless. Small things throw us off our balance. 
We are suspicious, envious, and, last of all, embit- 
tered. 

Keep quiet. Get into the habit of thinking be- 
fore speaking or acting. Spend half an hour in se- , 
rene meditation every day, asking what it is worth 
while to do, and why it is worth while to do it. 
Then you will reach the conclusion that there are 
some things which it is worth your while not to do. 

All this is included in the broad idea of religion. 
It teaches you how to create within yourself a spirit 



RKPOSK OF SOUIv IS STRENGTH 191 

of quietness, to attain that self-poise which is so 
necessary to happiness, and thus to be at your best 
when some unusual struggle is at hand. 

The laws of the universe will then be on your 
side, and you will be able to overcome without ef- 
fort, for the events of life are made harder by the 
restlessness with which we meet them; and they 
could be made less harmful if we would meet them 
quietly and accept them as quarried marble to be 
cut into shape by the patient chisel of a nature 
which is determined to be as contented as possible. 



HOPEFUI. MOURNING 

To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for 
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. 
— Isaiah Ixi., 3. 

TN the long, long ago a cUvStom prevailed which 
*■ gave to All Saints' Day a unique kind of good 
cheer. The separated members of the family met in 
the old home, and at the midday feast chairs were 
set not only for those who were visibly present, but 
also for those who had passed on to the higher life. 
It was a recognition of the fact that hearts are the 
same whether they are on this side or the other side 
of the border. The dear ones were not neglected, 
though with trembling steps they had passed 
through the shadow of death and emerged into the 
bright sunlight of heaven. No one was forgotten, 
and faith that the departed still retained their inter- 
est in those whose work was not yet finished, and 
that they were glad to come back to add their mite 

to the happy occasion, gave the coloring of hope 

192 



HOPEFUI, MOURNING 1 93 

to the reunion and made the future radiant and 
glorious. 

That was a phase of religion which reminds us of 
the time when the disciples who had followed the 
Master through three lonely years were gathered to- 
gether and * ' Jesus came and stood in the midst and 
said unto them, Peace be unto you." That inci- 
dent was perhaps the origin of this custom which 
glorified All Saints' Day, for it was well argued that 
if the Christ could come to those whom He loved 
then our other loved ones might come also. 

It is right that we should mourn, for even a tempo- 
rary separation wounds the heart. A goodbye can 
never pass the lips without setting free the fountain 
of our tears. But mourning with faith is not like 
mourning without it. The sky is clouded when we 
part with our dear ones, even though the eyes see 
beyond the clouds ; but the tempest rages fiercely 
when we have no hope, and the very roots of our be- 
ing are torn up by its destructive and relentless 
power. 

There is no one on the footstool who makes such 

a draught on our sympathy and pity as he who 

knows no future. The vibrations of his grief when 
13 



194 MAKING THK MOST OF I,IFK 

he looks over the churchyard wall form a kind of 
crescendo which at last breaks the heart. His de- 
spair, like the blind Samson, puts its arms about the 
pillars of the temple and brings the whole structure 
of his being into ruin. We can bear disaster if only- 
hope is left, but disaster and despair are too much 
for human nature to endure. 

Still, we who mourn are not wholly in the right. • 
We robe ourselves in the gloomiest black, which is 
a wall through which the angels of relief cannot 
enter. Black is a kind of infidelitj^ which, though we 
are unconscious of it, is very harmful, a sort of barrier 
to the sweet influences of another world. The ex- 
treme of mourning apparel is too much a display, and 
it shows that we have not the courage of our convic- 
tions. As a symbol of our state of mind it is not in 
accordance with the precepts of our religion. It is 
the garb of a starless midnight, quite unworthy of 
our belief in immortality. God has not made any- 
thing black, — then why should we ? His sunshine 
covers the very grave with grass and flowers ; His 
universe is bright and cheery from dawn to dawn. 
Why, then, should we intimate by our garments 
that He has neglected to reveal our proper attitude 



HOPEFUI^ MOURNING I95 

in one of the supreme moments of life ? The pur- 
pose of religion is to make us serene, quiescent, re- 
signed, because death is not what it seems to be, 
but is, on the other hand, a birth of some freed soul 
from the limitations and pains of a wearied body. 

Moreover, a great deal of our grief is selfish. We 
have suffered an affliction and we think of ourselves. 
If our faith is worth having, we know that they who 
have gone are better off than those who remain. 
That fact we do not dwell upon. Instead of being 
grateful that there is a heaven, and that our loved 
ones are there, that they are beyond the vicissitudes 
of time, we mourn simply for our own loss, for- 
getful of their gain. This is not well. 

We want a more triumphant faith. Our eyes are 
dull, and we do not yet see the truth. One glimpse 
of heaven, and we should lay aside the mere trap- 
pings of woe, for they are dismal and heartbreaking. 
We may weep, for tears are a lens through which 
the invisible sometimes becomes visible ; but this 
despair, this feeling that everything has suddenly 
been plunged in darkness, is all wrong. 

God still lives, the loved ones still live, having en- 
tered a sphere of larger usefulness, and there is a 



196 MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE) 

royal highway from the throne of God's infinite love 
to our little earth along which they will visit us in 
our sorrow. Real religion may bow its head, but 
beneath all other thoughts is the radiant belief that 
they and we shall meet again. Sorrow can wear a 
diadem of hope, and even the breaking heart may 
smile because the Eternal Father and the * * house not 
made with hands " are in the near distance. 



TRUE SUCCESS 

Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? — St. 
Matthew vii., i6. 

'T^HERE is an old saw which tells us that nothing 
''• succeeds like success, which is another way 
of saying that success vindicates its own methods. 
The statement is false and misleading, and as an in- 
centive to youth it is wholly disastrous. To put a 
disregard of the means employed into a young man's 
mind and so convince him that if he accomplishes 
his purpose the world will ask nothing more, is to 
wound him as fatally as though you drove a knife 
into his heart. 

In very truth, there is a kind of apparent success 
which spells defeat, and a kind of apparent failure 
which is reckoned success in heaven. In other 
words, the best thing for a man is to be manly al- 
ways. A lie is apt to come home to sleep and bring 

with it a large brood of unpleasant memories, and 

197 



198 MAKING THE MOST OF I,IFK 

the man who cheats cheats himself out of more 
than he cheats his neighbor. To be straightforward 
is worth something, and especially in times when 
temptations are both many and strong. 

It is a beautiful world and at the same time an al- 
most cruel world. That is to say, it is governed by 
law, and the law is inexorable. There are no cir- 
cumstances under which you can gather figs from 
thistles. The universe is built on the basis of hon- 
esty, and dishonest}^ finds no nook or corner in 
which to hide itself. You may demur at this and 
tell me that many a rogue is happy, that many a 
man deals in crooked measures and has the respect 
of the community. I doubt both propositions. Men 
are measured pretty accurately in the long run, and 
a man is not likely to wear his heart on his sleeve 
and proclaim his regrets. The world has not yet 
been turned upside down. Every man loses unless 
his life is square. Kternal logic runs in that direc- 
tion. Wrong is alwa3^s wrong and right is always 
right. If you look at life from that standpoint you 
are safe ; if not, you are in danger. 

Beneath a man's reputation, which is sometimes a 
mere mask with false features, is his character, his 



TRUK SUCCKSS 1 99 

real self. If that is not upright he has a hornets' 
nest in his soul and he is being stung to death. 
He is not at peace with himself, is not content, is 
not happy, and cannot be. happy. If this is not true, 
then we have made a mistake in our conception of 
God. I do not care for what that man seems to be, 
nor for what he poses as being, nor yet for what the 
people say he is — he has trampled on his immortal 
nature, has misdirected his energies, and until you 
can find figs on thistles he will not be satisfied with 
himself. As far as the east is from the west, so 
far is he from what God and nature intended him 
to be. 

Strip off* his wealth, tear down his social and 
commercial position, lay bare his inmost soul, and 
what do 3^ou find ? An}^ material on which to build 
a character fit for heaven ? And 3^et, unless a man 
lives for heaven, he does not live at all. This little 
life, a mere hand's breadth of time, is as nothing. 
It is the eternity ahead of us that gives significance 
to the present, and it is a man's fitness for heaven 
which stamps him as real gold or counterfeit coin. 
It is not what we appear to be here, but what we shall 
honestly be when we get there, that counts. The 



200 MAKING THE MOST OF I.IF:e 

day after death, when we leave all these trappings 
behind us, life's falsities and wrongs will tell the 
story. Karth fading away in the distance, immor- 
tality looking us in the face, asking us who we are 
and what we are — then we shall step on the scales 
and be weighed. If we are found to be just and 
true and loyal the angels will be glad to welcome 
us, but if we bring nothing but our misdeeds 
we shall be pitied because of the great mistake 
we have made. God's blessing on a man's honest 
life will be worth more than the whole world's 
wealth. 

The first thing for a reasonable human being to 
do, therefore, is to get into harmony with the uni- 
verse, and the second is to stay there. In that state- 
ment is included the essential element of religion. 
It marks an ascending grade from the lower to the 
higher altitude of mind, until at last we step across 
the grave into heaven. Nothing equals In value a 
noble life. lyive well, then, live nobly ; live for 
others, as the blessed Christ did. When you go, 
leave this old earth a little better for your having 
been in it. Guard your peace of mind, which is the 
best of all treasures; walk humbly, doing the Lord's 



TRUE SUCCESS 20 1 

will, and you will have nothing to complain of 
either here or hereafter. There you have your 
creed, — a short one, indeed, but quite long enough 
for your purpose. 

THE END 



MAR 1 1904 



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